By virtue of its size and its vast stock of knowledge, the Stockholm region plays a crucial role in the growth of the entire country. The City of Stockholm has a strong business community and is an attractive place to work as an entrepreneur. Stockholm has the highest number of so-called unicorns per capita after Silicon Valley in the USA.
The business community consists of a variety of industries, representing just over 80 percent of Sweden’s business activities. The largest area of business activity is business services, which include law, finance, science and technology. Followed by retail, manufacturing, financial services, and information and communication.
In total, there are about 83,000 workplaces in the City, with just over 680,000 jobs. Most companies are small, with about 45 percent having 1–4 employees.
Facts and statistics about business in Stockholm, Stockholm Business Region’s website
The City’s responsibilities
The City strives to create conditions for development and growth in Stockholm’s business community. This can involve partnerships with the business community on labour market issues or industry meetings.
The City also has a role to exercise public authority, in which the City’s employees maintain contact and dialogue with companies on a variety of issues. This can involve permits, inspections or companies that deliver services to the city.
The city also has an ambition to support companies in various ways. The City also has relationships with a number of actors through contractors, industry meetings, procurement processes and independent operations.
There are also several initiatives where the City collaborates with the business community. Reducing climate impact, fighting crime, creating jobs and customised training programmes are a few examples.
Organisation
City Executive Office
The City Executive Office is responsible for the strategic development and coordination of the City’s work on business.
Stockholm Business Region
Stockholm Business Region is a company wholly owned by the municipality, with responsibility for marketing and developing Stockholm as a place where companies establish themselves.
Stockholm Business Region’s website
Policy documents
The annual budget, adopted by the City Council, is the overriding governing document for all the City’s operations. Supplementary policy documents establish and clarify how the City’s operations are to operate and how they should be run.
Most of these policy documents, including the Business Policy mentioned below which is the main policy document within this area, are only available in Swedish.
The City of Stockholm’s Business Policy
The business policy defines the direction and areas of responsibility. The policy clarifies how coordination and collaboration takes place, so that everyone can contribute to a better business climate and an internationally competitive business sector.
The City of Stockholm's Business Policy, in Swedish (pdf)