It covers two floors, contains more than 7,500 square meters of floor space and offers an up-to-date, modern work environment for more than 700 talented Volvo Cars employees: our new tech hub in the Swedish capital Stockholm officially opened today.
The tech hub is located nearby the Volvo Studio in downtown Stockholm and will be part of our future foundation as we continue to work towards our mid-decade ambitions and beyond.
The automotive industry is rapidly changing and our new generation of fully electric cars, including the recently revealed Volvo EX90 SUV, will all be software-defined.
The Volvo car of the future will be fully electric by 2030, increasingly sold online, powered by cutting-edge core computers and will become better over time thanks to over-the-air software updates.
“To accelerate our transition, we’re in the process of recruiting hundreds of talents in areas such as software engineering, data science and analytics, product management, online business and customer experience development,” said Björn Annwall, our chief commercial officer and deputy CEO. “Many of them will be based out of our new tech hub.”
The tech hub will also serve as the base for our businesses and activities in the wider Stockholm region. It aims to be a central part of Stockholm’s tech scene, right in the home and birthplace of several globally successful billion-dollar tech companies. Through a broad variety of events at our new tech hub, we plan to engage with other bright tech minds in the Swedish capital.
The new facilities also have a special focus on employee wellbeing, which includes the creation of two recreational rooms inspired by the Japanese concept of Shinrin Yoku. Here, employees can explore an immersive experience of film, sound and light designed for de-stressing.
“Our new Stockholm hub is designed to spark creativity and collaboration,” said Hanna Fager, our chief people officer. “It will be a modern and inclusive workplace that allows current and future talent with a broad variety of expertise to work and cooperate. A hallmark of Scandinavian modern design, it reflects all the strengths of the Volvo brand.”
To underline its connection with our heritage, the tech hub will feature specially designed furniture created from recycled car materials. Lamps made from used airbags and chairs 3D-printed from repurposed car bumpers? You’ll find them here!
A company-wide transformation
The Stockholm tech hub is the latest in a series of new tech-focused facilities we’re developing. Last month, we inaugurated a new tech hub at our Bangalore campus in India and since before, we have tech hubs in Sunnyvale, US, as well as in Lund, Sweden.
Each location has their own areas of expertise. The team in Stockholm is focused on direct consumer relationships and the customer journey, while the teams in our other tech hubs focus on areas such as R&D and autonomous drive technology, data analytics and digital application development.
The opening of our tech hubs comes as we’re in the middle of a company-wide transformation. By 2030 we will be a fully electric car company and we aim to sell half of our cars online in the coming years, as more and more car buyers shop online.
Our move towards an omnichannel approach, where you as a customer choose how to interact with Volvo Cars, is integral to our aim of becoming a leader in the fast-growing premium electric segment. In coming years we aim to establish millions of direct consumer relationships through our online sales hub volvocars.com.
SOURCE: Volvo Cars
