Helsingborg invites the world to a 35-day innovation fest with H22 City Expo

With Nobel Week well under way in Stockholm, all eyes are on the Swedish capital as the legacy of Alfred Nobel and more than a century of excellent innovations are being celebrated globally. Meanwhile, a mid-sized city in southern Sweden – recognized as one of Europe’s most innovative and green cities – is preparing to make a difference with its own innovation fest.

From 30 May to 3 July 2022, Helsingborg invites the world to H22 City Expo – an international event with over 300 programme features highlighting the role of innovation in shaping the smart and sustainable city of the future. H22 City Expo brings together over 70 official partners, innovators, world-leading companies, researchers, city departments, sustainability heroes, associations, and residents to explore and develop how we live in tomorrow’s city.

Highlights from the programme include:

• Camp Tillsammans: Swedish furniture giant IKEA is collaborating with an entire city for the first time. In the city’s Fredriksdal forest, students from international design and architect schools will be developing a new type of temporary community in sync with nature. Detailed solutions for aspects such as shelter and housing, energy, and water will be explored. Camp Tillsammans (tillsammans means together in Swedish) is a living experiment that will run for the whole five weeks of the Expo.
• Urban Future: Europe's largest event for sustainable cities is coming to H22 City Expo. The decision-makers, influencers, and change agents who are driving sustainable urban transformation on a global scale will all congregate in Helsingborg this summer.
• RecoLab – where wastewater becomes a resource: The city’s development facility RecoLab manages a unique wastewater system that separates three waste flows – one pipe for greywater, one for ground food waste, and one vacuum pipe for toilets. Helsingborg’s urban renewal neighbourhood Oceanhamnen is the first in the world to test this innovative system at full scale.
• Award-winning Swedish top chef Daniel Berlin is assuming a prominent role during H22 City Expo and ensuring that the food reflects the future, is innovative, and sustainable throughout the 35-day event.
• Vera Park: The city’s former landfill is now an innovative industrial park and test bed for environment-related solutions. Innovations include waste collection on demand, landfill mining, and producing chipboard with fossil-free binders. A new biochar plant is under construction and will be open to visitors during the Expo.
• Unique self-watering lawn: The central park Ångfärjeparken has a unique self-watering lawn that uses technology found only in Helsingborg and in Hong Kong. The irrigation system is so efficient that it uses just 15 per cent of the water normally used in traditional irrigation.
• The Port of Helsingborg tests a new electric road system: Sweden’s second largest container port is testing a new high-tech electric road concept from Swedish company Elonroad. The system charges all types of electric vehicles from a power strip in the road, whether they are parked or on the move. This technology can be explored on site in the port during the Expo.
• Hex22 – 100,000 hours of hacking for the thoughtful city: During 34 days, Hex22 will bring people together to spend 100,000 hours co-creating to make the world a better place. With talks, hackathons, exhibitions, and competitions, local solutions to global challenges will be built and tested together.
• Co-living: live in 11 square metres, but share 200: Public housing company Helsingborgshem are launching their first co-living homes in the city. This is a sharing experience where you rent a small private unit of around 11-15 square metres while sharing other rooms such as the kitchen, living room, and concept spaces with your neighbours.
• SilviaBo – a unique housing concept for seniors: SilviaBo is a new type of home uniquely designed to accommodate the challenges of ageing, including dementia-related illnesses. The original idea arose from a meeting between H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden and Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA. Model homes will be open to visitors for the first time during the Expo.

The H22 City Expo programme can be found here H22 City Expo 2022. Pavilions and exhibition areas will be interspersed with a wide range of activities including hackathons, conferences, workshops, site visits, experiments, music, food, and entertainment.

Registration for media accreditation relating to H22 City Expo will open at the end of February 2022.

For more information and media inquiries, please contact:
Maria Ploberg, Press Officer at H22 City Expo, +46 738-22 43 67, maria.ploberg@helsingborg.se

Facts about Helsingborg:

• Helsingborg has a proud tradition of organising major expos. As early as 1955, the H55 craft and design fair attracted a million visitors. In 1999, H99 became the forerunner of a wave of housing exhibitions around Sweden.
• HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is the royal patron of H22 City Expo.
• Focused efforts on innovation and change have resulted in Helsingborg being named one of Europe’s most innovative cities in the European Capital of Innovation Awards 2020 (iCapital).
• The city has a prominent role in UNECE’s Trees in Cities Challenge and has been voted Sweden’s Most Environmentally Friendly Municipality several years in a row (2009, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020).
• Helsingborg was recently a finalist in the European Green Capital Award 2023.