Our lives depend on technology, but often we do not even think about it. How did we end up there? And how has society been shaped by new technology – and how has society shaped technology? This is the story we helped employer’s organization Teknikföretagen tell when they turned 125 in 2021. It was a story about Sweden’s journey from a poor agricultural country to a high-tech industrial nation, with milestones and unexpected examples in everything from the introduction of electricity to modern tech companies. It is well known that AXE-switches, Electrolux refrigerators and Volvo cars have become world successes, but how many people know that Swedish companies have driven development in walkers, construction lifts and car seats?
Web history
We conveyed this history in 20 newly written technical history articles, which are now available on Teknikföretagen’s website. They convey both the organization’s history and Sweden’s larger technology heritage .
Free school material
The articles are also available on our school site Företagskällan – and there we have supplemented them with individual lesson plans, adapted to the current secondary school curriculum and with suggestions for study questions and lesson plans.
Films
In addition, we have contributed material to a number of short films that Teknikföretagen made about telecom, the automative industry, electrification and computers.
