Luleå is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Luleå Municipality (with a total population of 77,832). Luleå is Sweden’s 25th largest city and Norbotten County’s largest city.
Luleå has the seventh biggest harbour in Sweden for shipping goods.[4] It has a large steel industry and is a centre for extensive research. Luleå University of Technology is one of Sweden’s three technology universities (the other two are KTH and Chalmers) and the northernmost university in Sweden. The university has approximately 15,000 students.
Economy
Luleå’s commerce and industry are a mix of industry, research, education, trade, and services.
Major employers in the city are the SSAB steelworks and Luleå University of Technology. A Swedish Air Force wing, F 21 (or Norrbotten Air Force Wing), is stationed near Luleå at the neighbouring Luleå Airport. Other major employers include Ferruform (a subsidiary of Scania AB) and Gestamp HardTech (acquired from SSAB 2005-01-01).
IT industry
The information technology industry in Luleå has about 2000 employees (2008).
Luleå is the home of several major innovations and technological milestones.
- Broadcast radio: RDS, DAB, DARC (1992–1997)
- The Luleå algorithm for routing (1997)
- Living Labs: leading European service testbed with 6000 users (2001–)
- Marratech: pioneers in Internet-based E-meetings (1998–) – acquired by Google, releasing in November 2008 video-chat support in Gmail
- Arena project, IT in Sports: sensors, handheld wireless video (1999–2002)
- Estreet project: First large-scale mobile marketing experiment (2000)
- On 27 October 2011, Facebook announced it would locate its first data center outside of the United States in Luleå. The whole facility is made up by a set of three 28,000 m2 (300,000 sq ft) buildings. The first building was to be operational in 2012.[8] The establishment will help turn the Luleå region into a major node for European data traffic. The town’s northern location and that it will become a hub for data traffic in Europe has generated a new epithet for the Luleå region – The Node Pole.[9] The Node Pole region provides stable, low-cost electricity that is 100-percent derived from renewable sources. In addition, they cite the benefits of low cooling expenses, given that the region is one of the coolest in Sweden. Sweden’s long political stability is cited as another long-term benefit of the Node Pole’s
Shopping
The world’s first indoor mall was opened in Luleå in 1955 (architect: Ralph Erskine) and was named Shopping. There are two other malls in Luleå: Strand and Smedjan. The main shopping streets in Luleå are Storgatan and Kungsgatan. A few kilometres outside Luleå there is a shopping centre called Storheden.Shopping, the world’s first indoor mall
Culture
Luleå has a variety of cultural institutions, among them Norrbottensteatern; Norrbotten Museum; and Norrbotten Big Band [de], led by Tim Hagans. In January 2007 the Cultural House (Kulturens Hus) was opened. A library, concerts, and art exhibitions are all hosted here.
Luleå is also home to hardcore punk band Raised Fist, melodic death metal band The Duskfall, power metal band Machinae Supremacy and death ‘n’ roll band Helltrain.The Theatre of Norrbotten
One of the largest winter festivals in Luleå is the indoor Minus 30-festivalen, held at Kulturens hus (the House of Culture) annually on a Saturday in mid-March.
Luleå Hamnfestival (Luleå harbor festival) is a big summer event in the center of Luleå, mostly centered around the north harbor. The festival has been a recurring event each summer since 2013. Held in July, it is a free event not targeting a specific group. The festival is the new version of Luleåkalaset which was held each summer from 2002 to 2012, which itself replaced sjöslaget, the summer festival from 1988 to 2002.
Musikens makt (The power of music) is a smaller, free music festival that is held each summer in August at Gültzauudden since 2010.
Ice music is a new art form where professional musicians play on instruments made out of ice. The concerts are performed in a huge igloo and the instruments pulsate in all the colors of the rainbow.
Sports
Luleå has many teams competing in a variety of sports.
Three teams in Luleå compete in the highest Swedish leagues: Luleå Basket (female basketball team, previously called Northland Basket); BC Luleå (male basketball team, previously named Plannja Basket and LF Basket Norrland); and Luleå Hockey/MSSK (Munksund-Skuthamns Sportklubb) (female ice hockey team) and Luleå Hockey (male ice hockey team).Players in Luleå Hockey
Luleå Basket has won two Swedish championships (2014 and 2015), while BC Luleå has won eight Swedish championships (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2017). Luleå Hockey/MSSK female team won their first Swedish Championship in 2016 while the male Luleå Hockey team has won one Swedish Championship in 1996, the European Trophy in 2012 and the Champions Hockey League in 2015.
Football
Ice hockey
- Luleå HF play in the Swedish Hockey League
- Luleå HF/MSSK play in the SDHL
Basketball
- BC Luleå, formerly LF Basket Norrbotten and Plannja, for men and Luleå Basket for women; Plannja has won Basketligan seven times, which is a record
Yukigassen
The Swedish Championship in Yukigassen is held in Luleå annually.
