GOTEBORG EDUCATION (I2I)

The project concerns the modernisation, upgrading or construction of higher education and research facilities in the city of Göteborg. It has two specific components, the first relates to the upgrading of the University of Göteborg's academic facilities through new construction and renovation of existing buildings. The University buildings will house the teacher training college (Pedagogen), the school of photography and film (TV-högskolan), and the nursing school (Vårdhögskolan). The second component, the Biotech Centre, includes the construction of offices and laboratories for biotech companies in the Sahlgrenska Science Park.

The project combines investments in human capital and R&D. The proposed operation is fully supportive of the Lisbon objectives and consistent with the Bank’s Innovation 2010 initiative. Investments in higher education and in research and development are key to a knowledge and innovation-based European economy, and a central element in fostering employment creation, growth and social cohesion. Universities are the innovation drivers. The premises for research-based biomedical companies are an important link between knowledge creation and the market: it contributes to the transformation of innovation into investment, generating productivity gains and enhancing competitiveness.

The renovation of existing buildings has an overall positive environmental impact. For one element of the project, involving the renovation and construction of buildings originally dedicated to a different use and located in the historical city centre, local authorities requested a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), following which a permit was granted in March 2003.

• Non Technical Summary (NTS) of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

The Promoter is a real estate/housing company, wholly owned by the City of Göteborg. It operates under normal market conditions as a profit seeking concern. The project comprises a series of buildings to be rented to the University of Göteborg for teaching activities and to private companies for R&D purposes. In order to maximise competition and optimise the time schedule, procurement for each building has been divided into different contracts (design, civil works, construction, electricity, water and sewage). Each contract has been procured on the basis of national competitive bidding, with advertisement in the daily national press.

Human capital (education); i2i (education and training, R&D and innovative downstream investments).