As the focus of Sweden’s political, business and academic leaders turns to the annual Almedalen discussion forum on Gotland today, Ericsson, Telia and other partners are demonstrating their commitment to the country’s future digital competitiveness by announcing a new national connectivity and next-generation test center.
Called Digital Arena Sweden, the new national test center is an investment of more than SEK 300 million. It aims to strengthen Swedish industry by providing early access to advanced digital solutions in 5G, 6G, and AI.
Supported by Sweden’s innovation agency (Vinnova) through the Avancerad Digitalisering innovation program, the collaboration brings together Ericsson, Telia, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (and its subsidiary AstaZero), Future by Lund and others.
Under the initiative, Ericsson is responsible for establishing and progressing a unique, pre-commercial 6G test environment in collaboration with Lund University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
A top-level delegation of Ericsson executives will discuss the role of connectivity in Sweden’s digital competitiveness during Almedalen 2026, which gets underway on the Swedish island of Gotland today.
Erik Ekudden, CTO, Ericsson, says: “In Sweden, we have extensive experience in driving technological leadership. By creating one of the world’s first test environments for the combination of 5G,6G and AI, several years before the technology becomes commercial, we are ensuring that Swedish industry and research remain at the absolute forefront. For Ericsson, this is an opportunity to define, together with our partners, how a connected society will function, where AI agents, physical AI (robotics), and autonomous systems can be developed and validated to meet the future.”
Anders Olsson, CEO, Telia Sweden, says: “Through the new test center, we are opening up for more companies to take part in the latest 5G technology and AI, where we can meet high demands for security and sovereignty. This is a prerequisite for connecting and digitizing the most critical parts of operations and products, but also where the value in terms of efficiency, customer value, and societal benefit is greatest. This is how we can step up the work of both strengthening Sweden’s digital security and competitiveness.”
The test center will facilitate industries, from mining and transport to defense and medtech, in exploring the potential of 6G. The insights will also feed into the global 6G standardization process.
The new 6G environment builds on the Telia-Ericsson innovation program, NorthStar, which provides access to the latest 5G capabilities.
Digital Arena Sweden aims to empower enterprises by harnessing connectivity and AI to innovate safely and securely, accelerating the path from concept to commercial deployment.
The center aims to provide a shared digital portal and common framework for testing, making advanced technology more accessible to the entire Swedish innovation ecosystem.
