Mölndal is a part of the
Gothenburg urban areaGothenburg urban area is the second largest of the 1,940 localities or urban areas in Sweden. As such it has no administrative or political significance, but is a geographical and statistical entity...
on the west-coast of
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
, and constitutes the administrative centre of
Mölndal MunicipalityMölndal Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden, just south of Gothenburg...
. About 37,000 of the municipality's 50,000 inhabitants live here.
Mölndal is located on the western main line railway between
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest amongst the Nordic countries. Situated on the south-west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 502,833 with 622,287 in the urban area and total of 911,406 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.The City of...
and
MalmöMalmö is the third most populous city in Sweden, situated in its southernmost province of Scania.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County. The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which has 290 007 inhabitants in eight different...
and the European highways
E6E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...
/
E20The European route E 20 is part of the United Nations International E-road network.It runs roughly west-east through Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally Russia. The length is 1880 km...
run through the area from north to south. Mölndal is served by the
Gothenburg tramThe Gothenburg tram network is part of the public transport system organised by Göteborgs Spårvägar AB, controlled by Västtrafik in the Swedish city of Gothenburg...
way system.
The name of the city derives from two words;
Möln, which is a short form for Möllor, an old word for
millsA grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal, wind or water...
, and the word
dal, which is the
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...
word for
valleyIn geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
.
Mölndal is a part of the
Gothenburg urban areaGothenburg urban area is the second largest of the 1,940 localities or urban areas in Sweden. As such it has no administrative or political significance, but is a geographical and statistical entity...
on the west-coast of
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
, and constitutes the administrative centre of
Mölndal MunicipalityMölndal Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden, just south of Gothenburg...
. About 37,000 of the municipality's 50,000 inhabitants live here.
Geography
Mölndal is located on the western main line railway between
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest amongst the Nordic countries. Situated on the south-west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 502,833 with 622,287 in the urban area and total of 911,406 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.The City of...
and
MalmöMalmö is the third most populous city in Sweden, situated in its southernmost province of Scania.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County. The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which has 290 007 inhabitants in eight different...
and the European highways
E6E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...
/
E20The European route E 20 is part of the United Nations International E-road network.It runs roughly west-east through Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally Russia. The length is 1880 km...
run through the area from north to south. Mölndal is served by the
Gothenburg tramThe Gothenburg tram network is part of the public transport system organised by Göteborgs Spårvägar AB, controlled by Västtrafik in the Swedish city of Gothenburg...
way system.
History
The name of the city derives from two words;
Möln, which is a short form for Möllor, an old word for
millsA grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal, wind or water...
, and the word
dal, which is the
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...
word for
valleyIn geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
. Mölndal is the "Valley of mills". The narrow but high and long
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
s in Kvarnbyn gave the necessary power to all the
watermillA watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping...
s that together with the
windmillA windmill is a machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails. The main use is for a grinding mill powered by the wind, reducing a solid or coarse substance into pulp or minute grains by crushing, grinding, or pressing...
s on the hills gave birth to the early
industrialisationIndustrialisation is the process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one...
of Mölndal.
Industry
Mölndal is best known for its high concentration of companies in the life sciences.
AstraZenecaAstraZeneca plc is a large Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company formed on 6 April 1999 by the remerger of Swedish Astra AB and British Zeneca Group plc. Zeneca had been part of Imperial Chemical Industries, as 3 divisions that were spun off from ICI on 1 June 1993...
has one of its global research centres here with more than 3,100 employees. Several other companies in areas of research such as pharmaceuticals,
biomedicineBiomedicine, also known as theoretical medicine, is a term that comprises the knowledge and research which is more or less in common to the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine, odontology and fundamental biosciences such as biochemistry, chemistry, biology, histology, genetics,...
, and
biotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
are also located here. The proximity to Göteborg University and
Chalmers University of TechnologyChalmers University of Technology , is a university in Gothenburg, Sweden, that focuses on research and education in technology, natural science and architecture...
with their technology parks, has supported development of other sectors such as
microwaveMicrowaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300MHz and 300 GHz. This is an extremely broad definition including both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
technology and
information technologyInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
. Two national research institutes, IFP SICOMP AB and IVF Industrial Research and Development Corporation, are also located in Mölndal.