Within walking distance from Science Village you will find two large parks providing a variety of recreational activities such as hiking and running. There are two outdoor gyms, playgrounds of different kinds, and even opportunities to take a turn on the outdoor wooden dance floor.
Kunskapsparken (The Knowledge Park), a huge park – the size of 30 football pitches, is Lund’s second largest recreational park. It offers the perfect setting for a 4k run, a lunch time walk, or a sunset stroll. Here you’ll find winding paths, a riding trail, and a hill 80 metres above sea level with a scenic view with agriculture to East and the City of Lund to the West.
At the north entrance of the Park just 70m south of the tram stop in Science Village (ESS), there is a brand new outdoor gym. Further on you will find meandering water ways, a large pond, and various trees and shrubs with edible fruit, berries, and nuts.
In the southern part you will see Hage – a beautiful open garden surrounded by a recycled brick wall – built by Domkyrkan in 2021. Hage is the perfect place for reflection, relaxation, or a work picnic (that’s definitely a thing).
Nobelparken is located just a short distance from the southern entrance of Kunskapsparken. Brunnshögstorget is the closest tram station. Nobelparken offers a variety of different themes: the outdoor gym, the cosy dancing floor with beautiful string lights and free-for-all loudspeakers, the area of tipi huts, the playground, the swings, the basketball courtyard, and the vast greenery in the middle of the park offering a perfect spot for either a picnic or the popular Swedish games kubb (wikipedia) or brännboll (wikipedia).
Fitness24Seven is the first gym to open in Brunnshög. One of the most popular fitness facilities among students in Lund is Gerdahallen.
One of the closest gyms to Science Village is free – the wonderful outdoor gym in Nobelparken. There is a ball court nearby, so make sure to bring your A-game.
Other facilities in Lund:
Actic
Nordic Wellness
Imagine getting up in the morning and walking down to the lake for the 10 minutes bus ride into Lund and Science Village. Or walking those 200 year old stairs down into a waking city, grabbing a cup of (Love) coffee. Sitting on the tram watching the city change from turn of the 15th century brick buildings into the millennial glass, wood and greenery buildings in Lund NE.
To work in Lund, you will have plenty of opportunity to choose your surroundings, there are plenty of sleepy villages, coastal towns, gravel roads, and city apartments. It is even possible to live in central Copenhagen and commute across (and under) the water (55 minutes). In terms of prices, it’s more expensive per square metre the closer you get to the big cities. However, there is plenty of less expensive options in Skåne and it’s a small region where most commutes are less than 40 minutes.
Expats and swedes alike have three options when it comes to long term accommodation
– Rent (3-month notice is the norm) usually apartments but there are houses for rent as well. Lund, Malmö and Blocket.
– You can buy an apartment (kinda), in a condominium model where you pay for an apartment and pay part of the building overall costs in the form of a monthly fee. (Check out Hemnet (translated) and booli.)
– You can buy a house, that includes less fees but still some obvious ones like trash collection, water, electricity etc. Swedes generally turn to Hemnet (translated) or Booli (sv) when they go about looking for a new house, farm, or townhouse.
Commuting and all the opportunities that morning train provides is nothing compared to walking distance to work. Science Village is a part of the city district Brunnshög, and Brunnshög is packed with super nice parks, schools, and kindergartens as in close to proximity to new apartments and townhouses. Brunnshög is expanding quickly and the easiest way to know what is ready and what is upcoming in terms of housing is to go here (svenska).
The letting market in Sweden is fairly tricky to navigate, its highly competitive and long waits are usually on the table. On the other hand there is significant rent control. The local Public Housing company is Lunds Kommun Fastigheter (very loosely ”Lunds City Public Property Company”) they have their available rentals on display here.
The upside to the weird letting market is that there is a flourishing subletting market (’andrahandskontrakt’) where you sub-contract with the contract holder/tenant for a period of a couple of months up to years.
With over 1 700 hotel rooms to choose from, there’s something for all tastes and wallets. If you want that “home away from home” feeling there are lots of charming bed and breakfasts, both in central Lund and in the surrounding countryside. Check out some of the short term stay near Science Village and Brunnshög.
Forskarhotellet, Motel L, Elite Hotel Ideon are closest hotels to Science Village but with the tram, everything is close.
It is viable to stay in Malmö if you don’t mind the extra commute. In case you chose to stay there, the recommendation would be to stay close to the stations Malmö C or Malmö Triangeln, from there it’s only a 10-15 minute train ride to Lund.
Motel L with its large and welcoming lobby has 12 floors and 252 designer rooms and a sky bar with a beautiful view of Brunnshög and Lund. It is a beautiful walk of 20 minutes to Science Village and 5 minutes with the tramway.
Elite Hotel Ideon is housed in the so-far tallest building in Lund, Ideon Gateway close to Brunnshög. Is a modern hotel with 178 stylish guest rooms, a welcoming lobby with a bar and restaurants. After a busy day, the hotel is a nice and comfortable retreat, also offering a fitness room and sauna.
It a 38 minutes walk från Elite Ideon to Science Village and 8 minutes with the tramway – station Lund Ideontorget
Grand Hotel Lund is a luxury business hotel centrally located in Lund. The Grand hotel have a rich heritage that goes back a hundred years. The warm atmosphere at the Grand is steeped in tradition and history. The hotel has 84 room and a beautiful restaurant. It’s about 5 minute walk from the Lund C and from there a 14 minutes tram ride to Science Village. Or an hour walk through Lund with its cobblestones and half-timbered houses, the medieval city center and old university campus blends with modern buildings and tech parks the closer you get to Science Village. Well worth the walk.
Forenom an apartment hotel for short to medium term stays – ”that makes your stay easy, so you can feel at home”, A combination of hotel services with the comfort and freedom that an apartment provides. Forenom has 80 rooms. About 30 minutes with the bus and tramway from Lunds Botulfsplatsen station.
Forskarhotellet is situated next door to the complex of MAX IV and ESS. Here you can live, work, and research. It is a modern hotel with 20 rooms equipped with Nordic design furniture in a warm home environment. The hotel is in a walking distance to Science Village it takes about 12 minutes. The nearest tram station is ESS.
In addition to this Airbnb promotes some 70 rooms, houses, or studios in Lund to rent.
Look for hotels south-east of science village these generally have better access. Also be aware of the walking distance to a tram stop (Blue dots on map below).
Booking.comWell video meetings and remote-controlled labs are great but sometimes you just need to be there. To prep your sample, have a coffee with colleagues or look someone in the eye and shake their hand. In those cases, it is easy to travel to Science Village.
Whether you are coming from far away or a nearby region travelling to Science Village is easy and convenient. Lund central station is about 30 minutes from both Copenhagen airport (CPH) and Malmö Sturup (MMX). All trains from Stockholm (4h), Göteborg (2h) and Oslo (6h+) to Malmö/Copenhagen stops in Lund. There are numerous train connections from continental Europe as well, and the train is obviously the preferred option if possible. Check out your travel options on Omio.
From Lund Central station the tram will take you to ESS, MAX IV and Science Village in 15 minutes or less. If you are staying for the short term, check out your hotel options here, if you are looking for long term accommodation this would be a good place to start.
LEAPS
The League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources (LEAPS) brings together Synchrotron Radiation and Free Electron Laser user facilities in Europe in a strategic consortium that aims to actively and constructively ensure and promote the quality and impact of fundamental, applied and industrial research for the benefit of European science and society.
LENS
The League of advanced European Neutron Sources, LENS, is a not-for-profit consortium working to promote cooperation between European-level neutron infrastructure providers offering transnational user programs to external researchers.
High-Level Forum
The High Level Forum, the international network of innovation ecosystems, brings together international Executives, Decision and Policy Makers from the worlds of education, research, industry, business, economy and public authorities, all deeply engaged in the management or promotion of Innovation within their regional Ecosystem and often, worldwide. The Lund Innovation Ecosystem is one of the international regions represented in the HLF-collaboration.
Several of the national Swedish research and innovation funding agencies and foundations have initiated funding schemes related to ESS and MAX IV to support competence building, research collaborations and innovations since the decision to build ESS in Lund was made.
Vinnova have since 2018 funded a broad range of industrial pilot projects and competence building activities for industry. More info.
Swedish Research Council funds a broad range of ESS and MAX IV related activities, including annual project calls for neutron science (more info), preparatory ESS instrument project and is currently developing a national in-kind program for ESS.
NordForsk (funding agency under the Nordic Council of Ministers) is together with funding agencies in Sweden, Denmark and Norway funding the Nordic Neutron Science Program focusing on joint Nordic networks, Post-docs, PhD-projects and a common Nordic research school (NNSP).
It will be easier for life science companies to conduct experiments at MAX IV and ESS. In a new collaboration, the life science incubator SmiLe, MAXESS Industry Arena are developing a new platform – MAXESS Life Science Route.
The two-year project, which is funded by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, will support product development at up to 50 small and medium sized companies in southern Sweden. The goal is to increase awareness of the opportunities at MAX IV and ESS (or other neutron research facilities) – the project will strengthen life science companies in Skåne.
The project includes education and preparations for companies from the SmiLe community to conduct experiments at MAX IV and, in the future, at ESS. SmiLe and its partner companies will then serve as an entry environment for other life science companies that want to conduct similar studies. Experiments at the research facilities require extensive preparations and expertise, which is where SmiLe’s laboratories will play a key role. The companies will also receive help after the experiments with analysis of the extensive quantity of data that are generated.
The Northern Lights on Food (NLF) is an ongoing collaboration that aims to establish Sweden as the leading global food science nation for innovative, sustainable, healthy and tasty food through a leap in understanding of food structure, processing and function. This will be possible with the new world-class research infrastructures MAX IV and ESS that make use of X-rays and neutrons, respectively, to unravel food structures.
The long-term vision is to expand NLF into a European Food Laboratory (EFL) for food science research and related applications. Situated in Science Village Scandinavia next to MAX IV and ESS, EFL will be a physical and virtual arena where food scientists in academia and industry meet, collaborate, and integrate advanced X-ray and neutron techniques into their skillset.
InfraLife is a collaboration between SciLifeLab, ESS and MAX IV with the mission to improve knowledge and availability of research infrastructure and making it accessible to life science researchers in academia, industry and healthcare. Research and Infrastructure is a priority area in the Swedish Life Science strategy (PDF).
With InfraLife, the partners aim to increase the use of Swedish research infrastructures, broaden the user base to represent a range of stakeholders and stimulate cross-sectoral collaboration, to address some of today’s grand challenges. These challenges require a collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach – where InfraLife aims to serve as a hub connecting stakeholders, displaying the potential of the advanced technologies and making these unprecedented tools accessible to be utilized in addressing complex research questions.
The InfraLife Hub aims to improve the knowledge, availability and user base of unique technologies and services offered by the three infrastructures. It will also create opportunities for tech development, transfer and innovation with industry.
SwedNess is a graduate school for neutron scattering, funded by the Foundation for Strategic research (SSF) and operated by six Swedish universities: Uppsala University (coordinator), Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Linköping University, Lund University and Stockholm University. SwedNess has the goal to educate doctoral students to expand Sweden’s expertise in neutron scattering to exploit ESS now under construction in Lund.
Hanseatic League of Science (HALOS) is an EU project in the program area Öresund-Kattegatt-Skagerak (ÖKS) interreg that started 1st of February 2019. HALOS is a unique collaboration between Hamburg and South-West Scandinavia, bringing together four unique research facilities MAX IV, ESS, DESY and European XFEL, and creating a centre for integrated, world-leading Life Science innovation and research.
The board for Lund University decided in 2018 that the university should establish a major presence in Science Village. This process is led by the Faculty of Engineering (LTH) and the Faculty of Science. The effort is coordinated from the Lund University Science Village Office (‘The Office’) in order.
The Vision for the extended campus reads: “… to establish operations in Science Village will strengthen and renew the attractiveness of Lund University as a whole – its research, education and public relations – and ensure that the university lives up to its vision of being a university in world class that understands, explains and improves our world and the human condition”.
The university area will be the catalyst for the creation and retention of talent in the area. And infuse the area with a steady stream of academic excellence and research. The placement between two world leading research facilities gives the university an exceptional opportunity to expand their material science and life science prowess.
Lund university is also host university to MAX IV and Lund Nano Lab.
LINXS Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science – is an advanced study institute whose mission is to promote science and education focusing on the use of neutrons and X-rays, to attract world-leading scientists for short-term focused research visits, and to create international networks. LINXS hosts a broad range of scientific themes and inspiring international events, seminars and workshops.
If you are interested in joining LINXS go straight here.
MAXESS helps researchers in all industries to use the advanced research facilities to innovate and create better products. This is done through a combination of matchmaking between experts and researchers and engineers, educational initiatives and small (funded) pilot projects where users get their first taste of using synchrotron and neutron science for data collection.
MAXESS Industry Arena is an evolving national initiative supporting and facilitating industrial use of the large-scale research infrastructures MAX IV and ESS, and the associated eco-system. MAXESS Industry Arena facilitates partnerships between experts and industrial users through maxess.se, case studies, networking events as well as guided introductions to the industrial advantages of neutron and synchrotron tools.
Start searching for partners here
Big Science Sweden (BiSS) is Sweden’s official Big Science Industrial Liaison Office (ILO) serving Swedish high-tech industry, academia, research institutes and the Big Science facilities in which Sweden is a member. BiSS focus on high-tech contributions that drive research, innovation, and international collaboration, and generate business opportunities for Sweden.
BiSS help you stay updated about research facilities’ needs and their procurements and match your company’s skills and expertise, and capacity to deliver, with the facilities’ requirements. BiSS put you in touch with the right key persons at the facility. As a member of BiSSyou have a personal Big Science Sweden contact, who contacts you about current strategic business opportunities that would suit your operation!