The Jonkoping University has become the Swedish coordinator of the project. The International Department of the Jonkoping University was assigned to supervise the project of establishing the network of Swedish Centers in such an economically developed area as the Volga-Vyatka Area and the Volga Region which now have become the Volga Federal Region.
Jonkoping is a city in the south of Sweden. The Jonkoping University provides a place to study for 8,000 students. The Unversity specializes in close contacts with the local region and production companies. This region is well known not only in Sweden, but also in the whole world due to the highest density of small and medium sized enterprises in Europe. Gnosjo is a good example of a municipality, which is a part of the Jonkoping region. The business spirit of Gnosjo has become a term in itself, including business-mindedness, hardworking attitude and an effective organization of production. Gnosjo town having the population of only 10,000 people has 350 enterprises with the total annual turnover of $1.5 bln.
Some of these enterprises have only 2-3 workers, nevertheless even such small enterprises export their products abroad, and for some of them the export share constitutes 98%. These companies work in different areas (production of plastic, wood processing industry, metal processing industry, etc.)
The University plays an important part in the development of the region and the city of Jonkoping by providing local enterprises with a constant stream of highly qualified specialists. All first year students specializing in technics and economy have "host companies" which are companies where they can put theoretical models into practice during the academic year, often basing their diplomas on this work. The university has more than 600 of such partner enterprises, which in their turn use information services provided by the University. In such a way the business spirit of the region is reflected in different study and research programs of the University.
The Swedish Center in Nizhny Novgorod is established on the grounds of the largest higher education institution in the Nizhny Novgorod oblast - the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University, which provided education for about 80% of top managers of the largest enterprises in the oblast. The University has an innovation, information and exhibition centers, a technical park, an infrastructure for support of innovation activities.
