The announcement was made as Sweden’s political, business and academic leaders gathered for the annual Almedalen discussion forum on Gotland. Digital Arena Sweden aims to give Swedish industry early access to advanced digital solutions in 5G, 6G and artificial intelligence.
The initiative is supported by Sweden’s innovation agency, Vinnova, through the Avancerad Digitalisering innovation programme. The collaboration brings together Ericsson, Telia, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and its subsidiary AstaZero, Future by Lund and other partners.
Under the programme, Ericsson is responsible for establishing and developing a unique pre-commercial 6G test environment. The company will carry out that work in collaboration with Lund University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
A senior Ericsson delegation is also due to discuss the role of connectivity in Sweden’s digital competitiveness during Almedalen 2026. The company said the test environment is intended to shorten the path from innovation to market-ready solutions.
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 centre will support industries including mining, transport, defence and medtech as they explore the potential of 6G. Insights from the work will also feed into the global 6G standardisation process.
The new 6G environment builds on NorthStar, the Telia-Ericsson innovation programme that provides access to the latest 5G capabilities. Ericsson and its partners said Digital Arena Sweden would help enterprises use connectivity and AI to innovate safely and securely.
The centre also aims to provide a shared digital portal and common testing framework. The partners said this would make advanced technology more accessible to the wider Swedish innovation ecosystem and accelerate the route from concept to commercial deployment.
