As a teenager raised in the 1990s, he was aware that investment in infrastructure was more focused around the larger Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg. “Growing up, I think we felt neglected in a certain way. It’s just a feeling you had.”

But the opening of the Oresund bridge in 2000 represented a major economic shift, dramatically improving cross-border access and cutting journey times. Instead of queuing for weather-dependent ferries that took around an hour, passengers could drive over the bridge in just 10 minutes or travel between central Malmö and central Copenhagen in just 34 minutes by train. The landmark quickly became one of the best-known symbols of European cross-border collaboration.

“It’s really fast, and you can go there and back in the same day. That’s the biggest impact, I think. And if you want to stay there a weekend or something it’s very, very easy,” says Pagler.

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The body count

In 2017 a record average of 20,361 vehicles passed over the bridge each day and approximately 14,000 commuters took the train, despite temporary identity checks lengthening journey times during the first half of the year. Prior to the bridge opening, around 6,000 people a day commuted by ferry.

“I think my career would have been much slower if we didn’t have the bridge,” says 43-year-old Nichole Friberg, a managing director for an IT company who lives in Malmö but has been working in Copenhagen for 12 years.

“It’s more dynamic and all the companies I have joined have been quite international, and that is quite important to me since I am multicultural myself - half Peruvian, half Swedish,” she explains. “You have the opportunity to spend your day in a larger city that is a little bit more chaotic than Malmö. Then you get to come home to a little bit of peace and quiet.”

While the vast majority of commuters come from Sweden, the bridge also makes it easier for Danish residents to network with their Swedish counterparts.

In Malmö city centre, Neil Murray, 34, who lives in Copenhagen and invests in start-ups across the Nordics, is grabbing a latte in between meetings on both sides of the Oresund strait.

“I can’t really think of any other place in the world where two strong tech ecosystems exist within half an hour of each other, so for me I see it as a competitive advantage that I can see start-ups in two different countries, because of a bridge,” he says.