The High-Tech City

The name of the city derives from two words; 'Möln', which is a short form for Möllor, an old word for mills, and the word 'dal', which is the Swedish word for valley. Mölndal is the Valley of Mills. The narrow but high and long waterfalls in Kvarnbyn gave the necessary power to all the watermills, that together with the windmills on the hills gave birth to the early industrialisation of Mölndal in the 17th century.

The municipality has a cultural and industrial heritage rooted in farming, gardening, milling and paper manufacturing industry. Paper manufacturing started in 1653 and was ongoing on the very same location until 2006.

Today, Mölndal is mostly know for its high concentration of different companies within the life science-sector. AstraZeneca has one of its global research centres here, currently about 3 100 employees and still growing. Several other companies within pharmaceuticals, biomedicine and biotechnology to mention some research areas, are also located here.

The short distance to Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology, and their technology parks, has supported a development of other sectors such as microwave technology and information technology.

The location of three national resarch institutes here, IFP Reserch and IVF Industrial Research and development Corporation, further enhance our position within industrial oriented research.