A promised land? Drivers, challenges and opportunities related to the (green) industrialization of Northern Sweden

Description

This interdisciplinary program aims at understanding the economic, social and political challenges and opportunities that comes with the ongoing industrial transformation in northern Sweden. Identifying drivers, obstacles and preconditions in a historical, present and forward-looking process-perspective is therefore a key element in the program design. The research methodology utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods, including the construction of an interview database for future research and international comparisons. The project is important as it contributes with broad analyses, collection of interviews, data and other information related to an industrial transformation process, which potentially may be in the forefront of a ‘green’ transformation of the global economy. Studying this transformation offers a unique opportunity, since the process is unfolding at an early stage, and since the exact nature of the process and its future is still uncertain. Understanding drivers and obstacles in what may either be a green industrial revolution, a struggling ‘green take-off’ or a spectacular industrial failure is of great relevance for practitioners and scholars aiming at creating a sustainable future.

The whole program is led by professor Rikard Eriksson, Umeå University. Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Uppsala University, is the leader of Working Package 4, which addresses why the current wave of industrialization is happening now, why it takes place in the north and if it shares the basic characteristics in terms of drivers and obstacles in comparison to pervious episodes of industrialization, especially in northern Sweden.

The research programme "A Promised Land" at Umeå University