LIKE® Magazine | Photographs by Michael de la Force
Malmö is having a moment. Once a medieval Danish port built on a literal "sandpile," it has remade itself as a Nordic crossroads of design, diversity, and digital ambition—a place where shipyard grit has been recut into glass, light wood, and entrepreneurial nerve.
City of Reinvention
Malmö began life in the late 13th century as Malmhaug or Malmhaugar, a low, sandy fishing and trading village facing Denmark, tethered to the powerful archbishopric in nearby Lund and enriched by the Baltic herring trade and Hanseatic routes. For centuries it was one of Denmark's most important towns, a compact urban jewel where merchants and sailors moved herring, grain, and gossip through the narrow streets.
The Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 shifted Malmö and the wider Skåne region into Swedish hands, a geopolitical pivot that cost the city some of its old privileges and pushed it into a long phase of economic quiet. Modern growth would come later, riding on the construction of new harbor facilities in the late 18th and 19th centuries and the rise of heavy industry, shipyards, and engineering that dominated much of the 20th century before declining sharply in its final decades.
Post-Industrial Glamour
Today Malmö reads like a moodboard of Nordic futures: logistics depots glowing at dawn, university labs lit late into the night, and cyclists crossing from historic squares into waterfront eco‑districts. The Öresund Bridge and Malmö University are more than infrastructure—they are narrative devices, recasting the city from shipbuilding stronghold into a knowledge‑driven, cross‑border urban region braided tightly with Copenhagen.
The skyline tells the same story. St. Peter's Church (Sankt Petri), a red‑brick 14th‑century Baltic Gothic monument near Stortorget, holds the memory of the medieval town in its soaring interior. A short walk away, Malmöhus Castle, the Old Town lanes, the Turning Torso skyscraper, and the vast sweep of the Öresund Bridge stage an ongoing dialogue between preserved history and radical contemporary architecture.
The Corporate Landscape: Who's Building in Malmö
The city's business ecosystem reflects its transformation from industrial stronghold to innovation hub. Ericsson, the telecommunications giant, maintains a significant presence in the region, driving 5G infrastructure and IoT development. Tetra Pak, headquartered in nearby Lund but deeply embedded in Malmö's industrial fabric, continues to dominate food packaging innovation globally, employing thousands in engineering and design roles.
Spotify has expanded its engineering presence in Malmö, tapping into the city's tech talent pipeline and cross‑border appeal. The music streaming pioneer joins King (the makers of Candy Crush), which has maintained development operations in Malmö since its Swedish gaming boom days, now under Microsoft's ownership following the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
In logistics and maritime sectors, CMA CGM and Maersk leverage Malmö's port infrastructure, while Skanska, one of Europe's largest construction firms, has its roots in Skåne and continues major development projects across the city. The pharmaceutical sector thrives through Ferring Pharmaceuticals and smaller biotech startups spinning out of Malmö University's research programs.
Money Moves: How LIKE Magazine Readers Can Capitalize on the Swedish Market
For the ambitious professional: Sweden's labor market rewards specialized skills. IT professionals, engineers, and healthcare workers can command salaries between 35,000-60,000 SEK monthly (approximately $3,200-$5,500 USD), with Malmö's cost of living roughly 30% lower than Stockholm. The city's bilingual character—Swedish and English—makes it accessible for international talent, particularly those targeting roles at Ericsson, Spotify, or the burgeoning gaming sector.
For the investor: Malmö's real estate market presents opportunities in emerging neighborhoods like Hyllie and Västra Hamnen, where climate‑smart development is driving values upward. Property investment requires navigating Swedish regulations, but rental yields of 3-5% remain attractive, particularly for apartments near Malmö University, where student housing demand is perpetually strong.
For the entrepreneur: Sweden's startup ecosystem offers robust support through Venture Cup, the Nordic region's largest business competition, and Minc, Malmö's premier startup incubator housed in a former shipyard. Access to both Swedish and Danish markets within an hour creates unique arbitrage opportunities for service businesses. The Swedish government's generous R&D tax credits (up to 30% for qualified projects) and innovation grants through Vinnova provide capital‑efficient pathways for tech ventures.
For the freelancer: Sweden's F‑skatt system allows freelancers and consultants to operate efficiently, with creative industries—design, photography, content creation—particularly vibrant in Malmö. The city's growing international corporate presence creates steady demand for English-language marketing, branding, and digital services. Day rates for experienced consultants in tech and marketing range from 5,000-12,000 SEK ($460-$1,100 USD).
For the remote worker: If you're employed by a non‑Swedish company, investigate the tax implications carefully—Sweden's tax treaties and the rise of international remote work have created gray areas that require professional guidance. However, Malmö's quality of life, extensive coworking infrastructure, and Copenhagen's airport 25 minutes away make it an increasingly popular base for digital nomads who can navigate the visa requirements.
The Entrepreneur's Playground
For entrepreneurs, Malmö is not just pretty—it is practical. The city's post‑industrial transition has pushed its economic center of gravity into logistics, IT and tech, construction, real estate, and knowledge‑intensive services, backed by Malmö University and regional innovation networks across the Öresund. This shift has freed up industrial land, talent, and capital for new ventures, making Malmö a testbed for climate‑smart districts like Västra Hamnen and a magnet for startups seeking access to both Swedish and Danish markets in under an hour.
The entrepreneurial mood is tactile in everyday life. Residents live the brand: they cycle to co‑working spaces, hold walking meetings in parks, and prototype ideas between espresso shots and fika in cafés that double as informal boardrooms. The city's diversity—shaped by waves of Scandinavian settlers, Hanseatic traders, and later immigrants from across Europe and the Middle East—feeds a culture of experimentation, visible in everything from social enterprises to Middle Eastern street‑food concepts in Möllevången and minimalist Nordic restaurants riffing on the same ingredients.
Current Industry: The New Engines of Malmö
Clean tech and sustainability: Malmö has positioned itself as a living laboratory for climate solutions. The Western Harbor district (Västra Hamnen) runs on 100% renewable energy, attracting companies like Envac, which manufactures automated waste collection systems, and numerous solar and wind energy consultancies. This sector offers opportunities for engineers, project managers, and sales professionals focused on green infrastructure.
Life sciences and medtech: The Medeon Science Park connects startups with established pharmaceutical companies, creating a dense network of biotech ventures. GE Healthcare maintains operations nearby, while smaller firms develop everything from diagnostic tools to digital health platforms. Regulatory expertise and clinical research backgrounds open doors here.
Gaming and interactive media: Beyond King and Spotify, Malmö hosts Massive Entertainment (a Ubisoft studio behind Tom Clancy's The Division series) and dozens of indie game developers. The Game Habitat incubator supports early‑stage ventures, while the broader Swedish gaming industry's reputation attracts international publishers scouting for talent and partnerships.
Food tech and sustainable agriculture: Sweden's push toward food security and reduced carbon footprints has spawned ventures in plant-based proteins, vertical farming, and food waste reduction. Oatly, though Stockholm-based, sources innovation talent from Malmö's food science programs, and smaller startups are reimagining everything from dairy alternatives to insect protein production.
Royal Style, National Economy
Malmö's contemporary chic sits inside a larger Swedish frame: a constitutional monarchy where the king serves as ceremonial head of state and the elected prime minister and cabinet, appointed by the Riksdag, hold executive power. This political architecture has supported a stable, export‑oriented economy whose leading goods—machinery, vehicles, telecommunications equipment, pharmaceuticals, and refined wood and paper products—reflect both engineering prowess and deep forest resources.
On the import side, Sweden pulls in machinery, petroleum and energy products, chemicals, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods to sustain its industries and consumer life, a balance that underwrites both innovation and daily comfort. The monarchy's role in shaping Swedish style is quieter but no less real: generations of royal banquets, court interiors, and patronage of crafts helped set standards for formal dining and domestic elegance that trickled down from palaces to bourgeois apartments and, eventually, to the global mass market.
Royal patronage has long connected Swedish hospitality, craftsmanship, and diplomatic gesture, shaping how Swedish interiors and table culture are perceived at home and abroad. Photographer Michael de la Force recalled a lunch visit with Curt Carlson and his daughter, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, in Minneapolis. During the meal, Carlson discussed his beautiful dining room—a gift from King Gustaf VI Adolf that embodied the soft power of Swedish design diplomacy during the mid-20th century.
Wood, Ships and the Malmö Look
Southern Sweden's ports—including Malmö—once depended on shipbuilding, repair, and marine trade, industries that demanded exacting carpentry and joinery for hulls, cabins, and docks. Those maritime skills seeped into everyday life, forming a culture of woodcraft and pragmatic design that favored simple, durable, precisely engineered objects in both public buildings and private homes.
This heritage is legible in Sweden's global style signature: clean lines, pale woods, generous light, and furniture that feels as seaworthy as it does stylish, a sensibility that lifestyle brands like Ikea translated into accessible concepts for the world. The company's design philosophy—"democratic design" balancing form, function, quality, sustainability, and low price—emerged directly from this tradition of Swedish craft pragmatism.
In Malmö, that legacy appears in the calm, pared‑back interiors of cafés and studios, in student apartments organized like smart ship cabins, and in the meticulous wood detailing of renovated industrial spaces now housing creative agencies and tech startups. Companies like Hem, the modern furniture brand founded in Stockholm but with deep ties to Malmö's design community, carry this aesthetic into contemporary interiors globally.
(LIKE®) 2026 Life on the Street
The real runway in Malmö is the street. Locals crisscross the city by bike, layering weatherproof outerwear over minimalist basics, carrying laptops in tote bags instead of briefcases as they drift between campus, co‑working hubs, and waterfront promenades. They gather in parks, festivals, and on sun‑splashed terraces, moving effortlessly between fika rituals, pitch meetings, and late‑night conversations over mezze and natural wine.
Food maps the city's psychology: Middle Eastern street food in Möllevången, modern Nordic tasting menus that reinterpret the region's fields and waters, and quiet cafés where a single cinnamon bun and a strong coffee become a daily act of self‑curation. Restaurants like Bastard and Bloom in the Park have put Malmö on the Nordic culinary map, while immigrant-run eateries offer some of Europe's most authentic Middle Eastern cuisine outside the region itself.
The result is a lived aesthetic that fuses Malmö's sandpile origins, Danish heritage, Swedish design intelligence, and entrepreneurial hunger into one continuous, very photogenic narrative—one that smart readers of LIKE Magazine can now translate into tangible opportunity.
(Michael de la Force, LIKE® Magazine, 1.6.2026)
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