Lulea and Facebook

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We had the opportunity of listening, to Matz Engman; He told us love a story of Facebook and Lulea and how Lulea managed to become Facebook’s first choice for a data center. Lulea had to compete with other cities across the world for this to happen. This was not easy being a small town. State owned companies had to hire the best PR agencies to appeal to Facebook. In 2009 Lulea started to attract business and economic development by creating a welcoming business climate in which billions of dollars could be invested. In Sweden today 200 billion Kronas are being invested and Lulea stands to gain a lot.  Lulea was a force to reckon with and a partner to be relied on by October 2011 it was Facebook’s first choice! Why Lulea a small town and not a big town like Stockholm? Lulea has low energy costs, a big advantage for a large data center like Facebook. It enjoys 100% renewable energy from hydropower! It has a very talented workforce. A decent number of the inhabitants are well educated in engineering, IT and design all of which are very important disciplines for Facebook.  Universities have witnessed 18% growth for a third year in a raw. It is also in a very stable grid for chemistry industries. Lulea is friendly to foreigners any one can come and feel at home. It is attracting more than 10,000 citizens every year. The biggest impact on Lulea was when Facebook choose to Lulea to launch its biggest launch in Sweden as an ice nation. This has led to PR awards combined with green initiative. Facebook data center stands 59 meters high and 370 meters length in Lulea. As the world’s most energy efficient data center they are gaining recognition. Citizens of Lulea have been cited to be among the happiest in Sweden. Watchout for Lulea this small looking town not so small any more.

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