Sweden's information technology sector is comprised of some 22,000 companies, 14,000 of which are ICT-focused. Together, these companies generate sales of more than 11 billion USD. IT services companies lead the way with 4.4 billion USD in sales, followed by hardware companies (3.4 billion USD) and software companies (3.2 billion USD), according to the Europe Information Technology Observatory.

Innovation has been a hallmark of Sweden's IT sector. For years, homegrown companies like Ericsson (telecommunications) and MySQL AB (database servers) have been instrumental in the establishment of Sweden as a major force in the global IT industry. That reputation was reinforced during the late 1990s when the Financial Times, Newsweek and Business Week published articles focused on ‘the Swedish IT wonder.' More recently, Red Herring, a prominent US-based IT industry trade publication, listed Swedish companies Operax, MySQL AB, Cypak, Hotsip and Transmode Systems on its list of the 100 most promising companies in Europe and Israel.

This is just a sample of what you'll find in the complete Sweden guide.