Stockholm tech and gaming tour Voyage Tips and guide

Stockholm is not just Sweden's capital, it is also one of Europe's most productive clusters for information technology, including video games.

Sweden has been a forerunner in electronics and computing since the 1960s, with airplane and arms manufacturer SAAB among the sponsors. Cooperation between the telecom provider Televerket and the telephone manufacturer Ericsson allowed early expansion of mobile phone networks. Sweden became an important player in digital piracy with the launch of The Pirate Bay in 2003, though the founders were sentenced to prison in 2010. Successful Swedish tech startups include Spotify, Skype, Klarna, and King Digital.

Map of Stockholm tech and gaming tour

• 59.34722218.0727781 Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). While KTH was founded in 1827, the main campus was built during the 1910s. The metro station's art illustrates the history of physics and astronomy, with references to Newtonian mechanics and Swedish mechanical engineer Christopher Polhem.  
• 59.342818.07352 Villagatan 13. This address has been the home of many Swedish celebrities, two of them remembered as Citizen Kane-like tragic heroes who built industrial empires at the cost of their personal well-being. The first was Ivar Kreuger (1880-1932), who made a fortune from matchsticks, founded Sweden's motion picture industry in the 1920s, and lost his fortunes in the 1930s depression. Jan Stenbeck (1942-2002) lived here; the heir of Kinnevik, a holding company with most of its assets in the forestry and metal industries; since long the backbone of Swedish economy. Following legal conflicts with other family members, Stenbeck re-structured Kinnevik for investment in emerging markets. He founded Tele2, the first competitor to state-owned telecom operator Televerket, and the Modern Times Group, challenging the TV and radio monopolies. He is remembered as a pioneer of the Swedish tech industry.  
• 59.342518.0619283 Ericsson factories. LM Ericsson's factories from the 1890s to 1939. The company was founded in the 1870s, making switchboards and telephones, some models acclaimed for their design. In the 1980s they made a line of desktop computers, and pioneered development computer and mobile phone networks. In year 2000, they were one of Sweden's most valuable companies, but they were hit hard by the tech crisis. In 2001, they transferred the mobile phone production to Sony, but remains a world-leading developer of mobile phone networks.  
• 59.33972218.0554 Old KTH Campus (Gamla tekniska högskolan, Stockholm), Drottninggatan 95. The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) had its earlier premises here. Built in 1860, the buildings hosted schools for metallurgy, mining and chemistry; the base for the Industrial Revolution in Sweden. As the new KTH campus opened in the 1910s, the institute kept these buildings. Sweden's two first computers were built here; BARK in 1950 and BESK in 1953, which was at that time the world's fastest computer. Since 1963, KTH had a chair in scientific computing, and since 1983 a master program in computer sciences. In the late 1980s, KTH was of the first European universities to be connected to the Internet.  
• 59.33722218.06255 Thulehuset, Sveavägen 46. Head office of Klarna, a Swedish payment handler and one of Stockholm's unicorn companies. Formerly the office of King Digital Entertainment. This is also the place where Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in 1986; see Stockholm labour tour for context.  
• 59.33709518.0640776 Thule Data Center. A server hall opened in 2012 in a section of the Johannes bunker (the world's first nuclear-proof bomb shelter) branding itself as the most energy efficient in Sweden. Owned by Bahnhof, an Internet service provider famous in the hacker community for their stand for privacy and free information.  
• 59.3334518.066097 King Digital Entertainment, Malmskillnadsgatan 19. A game studio most famous for Candy Crush Saga.  
• 59.33308318.0642498 Avicii Experience, Sergelgatan 2. An interactive exhibition dedicated to the Swedish music producer and DJ Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii. The rise of Swedish electronic music in the early 2000s is attributed to the country's high rate of Internet connection and home computer ownership.  
• 59.33100518.067989 Spotify headquarters, Regeringsgatan 19. Spotify, founded in 2008, is the world's largest music streaming service as of 2024. Limited access to the public.  
• 59.32055618.05305610 Münchenbryggeriet. A brewery built in the 1890s, today used as a conference centre with offices for tech companies, among them Mojang, the maker of Minecraft.  
• 59.31340218.06026111 Digital Illusions CE (DICE), Södermalmsallén 36. A game studio owned by Electronic Arts.  
• 59.3115518.0591112 Paradox Interactive, Magnus Ladulåsgatan 4. A studio and publisher for strategy games including Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron.  
• 59.31238618.08549713 Pionen. A data center in a bunker. Limited access to the public.  

• 59.33138918.01472214 Thorildsplan metro station. One of many stations of Stockholm Metro renowned for its art, with motifs from low-resolution video games.  
• 59.332518.1187115 Museum of Science and Technology (Tekniska Museet), Museivägen 7. An impressive collection of tech memorabilia, including one of the server racks from a 2008 police raid against the Pirate Bay.  
• 59.40217.94716 Kista Science Tower.  
• Stockholm environmentalist tour for the city's contribution to sustainable technology, and the dilemmas of ecology