Modelon based on simulation

Nowadays, it is cheaper and quicker to test a product or system using computer simulation than by building a prototype. This has opened the way for a simulation industry.

Modelon is largely based on technology developed in Lund, in particular at the Department of Automatic Control.

In the 1990s, researcher Hilding Elmqvist developed a program called Dymola for computer simulation of dynamic systems. At the company Dynasim he developed the Modelica computer language. Dynasim was bought a while ago by the French company Dassault, which is now one of Modelon’s most important partners.

Magnus Gäfvert, one of the five founders of Modelon, was a doctoral student in Automatic Control in the late 1990s and conducted research on vehicle systems. A couple of his fellow doctoral students conducted research on applications based on Dymola in energy and cooling technology. In the break room they talked about the possibility of going into business together based on their interests. After finishing their studies and spending a few years working in industry, they got a tip-off that the German car industry had joined forces to look for new systems for the simulation of air conditioning.

They went on to win a tender and the company was started. It was a good start; they had a strong customer base from the outset, developed good technology and could see that there was huge demand.
“We are heading for increasingly complex technology in industry and increasingly complex production. Testing new products with prototypes is becoming more and more expensive and takes more and more time. There are a lot of advantages to switching to simulation”, says Magnus Gäfvert.
“It is basically about maths and physics, but we package the technology and conceal the difficult parts”, says Claus Führer, adding that they open them up for LTH.

The fact that the company has done well, made money since day one and is growing rapidly is supported by Dagens Industri, which recently named Modelon as a ‘gazelle’ company for the second consecutive year.

As well as in Lund, the company has offices in Gothenburg and three locations in Germany, the largest in Munich, where the office is almost as big as the one in Lund. The next office will be established shortly in North America. There are just over 20 employees working in Lund, on the top floor of Betahus no 6 at Ideon.

Today the company works on mathematical modelling of technical systems for the automotive and aviation industries, for drills, the energy sector, including power stations, and for the processing industry. For this purpose they build libraries of models and develop expertise in different fields for both new production and maintenance. The company also develops control systems and software for simulation and optimisation.

Mats Nygren