In 2005, the East Sweden Development Agency (former FDI attraction agency) was awarded representation of Sweden to ECARE+ and 500,000SEK for 3 years to catalyze the development and integration of the country's already strong aeronautic and aerospace industries. Home to SAAB Aerospace, and Linköping University with its strong programs in engineering, management, technology, and aeronautical engineering, East Sweden was a logical region within Sweden to support and lead the fast evolving industry. With the dissolution of ESDA, the custodianship of ECARE+ to Linköping University in 2006 to carry the program forward.
The municipality of Linköping chose in 2010 to adopt the epithet Linköping – Sweden’s aviation capital. To reinforce this, the municipality decided, with Nulink, (Business Development in Linköping) as the lead, to start a project with the objective of formalising the developing Swedish aviation cluster. The project started in the autumn of 2013, and the cluster was named the Aerospace Cluster Sweden, (ACS).
ACS is Scandinavia’s only formalised cluster within aerospace. ACS are members of the European cluster organisation EACP.