What’s going on Malmö?
Malmö is not set in stone, but rather a work in progress: a city with room for your dreams and desires to be put into action. Below are some areas that have a little extra energy at the moment—fields and projects in which you can get involved, and maybe even be inspired to start something new.
Malmö Generate District
Malmö Generate District is the new name for the area around Malmö University, and an initiative aimed at accelerating sustainable innovation and development in collaboration between businesses, academia, and other innovation actors who are tackling the complex challenges of our time, both locally and globally. Those actors include Malmö’s startup incubator Minc, which is situated next to the foresight and competence development organisation Media Evolution, and Altitude Foundation, which is dedicated to building a democratically sustainable society. Notable companies in the area include Duni, Orkla, Verisure, Wingårdhs, Telavox, Neo4j, and Position Green.
Malmö at the forefront of green transition
Malmö is internationally recognised for its active role in sustainable urban development and climate transition. The city combines long-term political commitment with close collaboration between public actors, academia and the business community, creating strong conditions for testing and scaling new solutions.
In 2024, Malmö’s Chair of the Municipal Executive Board was elected President of ICLEI, a global network of more than 2,500 cities and regions. Malmö is also a signatory of the Viable Cities Climate Contract 2030 and a frontrunner in climate-neutral construction through the LFM30 initiative. New approaches to sustainable urban food systems are currently being explored, with the ambition to enable food production, processing and consumption within the city.
Malmö’s long tradition of environmentally focused urban development – from the Augustenborg testbed and the award-winning Bo01 district to future plans for Nyhamnen – is matched by a growing ecosystem of companies driving green and digital transformation. Together, this makes Malmö a living test environment for the sustainable cities of tomorrow.
Strong creative industries and cultural scene
Malmö’s cultural and creative sector has become one of the city’s strongest growth engines, with 9,400 companies employing 11,700 people in 2024. Powered by its diversity and young population, the city hosts everything from world-leading games studios to design firms and architects, plus thousands of micro-entrepreneurs.
Malmö has more creative companies per capita than the national average, forming a dynamic ecosystem where culture, innovation and commerce grow side by side.
Skate parks like Love Malmö and Stapelbäddsparken, art and design spaces like Malmö Konsthall and Form/Design Center, and numerous smaller galleries and creative studios all sit within the compact “fifteen-minute city”. The diverse population fuels the food scene, meaning that Europe’s self-proclaimed falafel capital also hosts natural-wine bars, inventive plant-based bistros, and cozy bakeries. Relaxed neighborhood bars and live music venues like Plan B and Victoriateatern give the city deeply lived-in creative energy. Recently Malmö has also been the backdrop for TV series like The Bridge (a.k.a. Bron) and Diary of a Ditched Girl (a.k.a. Halva Malmö består av killar som dumpat mig).
Follow the NOMO newsletter to get weekly updates on cultural events, and check out recommendations from the New York Times and the Guardian regarding what’s hot. (This New York Times love-letter to the Malmö skate scene is also worth a read.)
A hub for sustainable and innovative food
Southern Sweden produces 30% of what Swedes eat, and hosts half of the country’s food-related R&D. Malmö is driving the future of food with innovations in food tech, circular production, and functional foods: purpose-driven companies and global brands like Oatly and Sproud, alongside startups like Re:meat and Simply No Waste, create a vibrant culinary scene that connects with logistics, tech, and packaging to reduce food waste.
Foodtech Innovation Network, Platform Stad and Livsmedelsakademin are some of many organisations working to further the field.
World class game development
The games development community in southern Sweden consists of thousands of developers and hundreds of companies. The region is home to studios renowned for their award-winning and impactful games, and for cultivating some of the biggest brands in entertainment, such as Star Wars and James Bond. If you add them all together, games made by studios in our region have been played by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Game Habitat is the organisation that gathers and supports the games community, along with studios such as Simogo, Massive and Sharkmob.
An emerging mega-region
Malmö is in the north, but facing south. The city sits at the heart of a rapidly forming mega-region, where daily life and business flow effortlessly across borders. Copenhagen is just twenty minutes away, giving Malmö residents instant access to a global airport and one of Europe’s most international labour markets. When the Fehmarnbelt connection opens in 2029, Hamburg will be only three hours away by train, creating a powerful tri-city conglomeration of 12 million people. This emerging Copenhagen–Malmö–Hamburg axis brings together world-class talent, culture, logistics and green-tech investment, positioning Malmö as a strategic, affordable and creative gateway between Scandinavia and continental Europe.
