Early analog computers in Sweden-with examples from Chalmers University of technology and the Swedish aerospace industry

This paper gives a short overview of early analog computing in Sweden in the 1940s and 1950s. Being a small country, Sweden tried to catch up with the development of computing that had been going on in the United States and elsewhere during World War II, and in the 1950s Sweden was pioneering this technology. By the late 1960s, Sweden was one of the most computer-intensive countries with a successful domestic computer industry. Unable to maintain a sustainable general computer production, some small sectors of Swedish computer R&D have prospered. In the concluding remarks, I suggest that the concept of “technological niches” is a useful tool, both analytically and for technology policy-making