[7] Umeå is a university town and centre of education, technical and medical research in northern Sweden.

[a] CRISPR gene editing was developed by researchers, headed by Emmanuelle Charpentier at Umeå University, being awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

[12][13][14] Consulates from ten countries can be found in Umeå (2021): Denmark (from 1848), Finland (from 1921), France (from 1989), Iceland (from 2002), Italy (from 2012), Latvia (1939–1940; again from 2014), Lithuania (from 2012), Norway (from 1963), and the Republic of Seychelles (from 2001).

The oldest rock carvings near Umeå, ten kilometers west of the city at Norrforsen, are from about 3,000 BCE.

[17][18] During that period the climate was mild, and barley and wheat were grown in the area, while moose and beaver were hunted further inland.

The northern parts of Sweden, including the counties of Västerbotten and Norrbotten, were mostly settled by nomadic Sami people before this time but not necessarily forming any permanent settlement in the city's exact location.

Southern Westrobothnia (Umeå and Skellefteå) has been a permanent Germanic settlement since at least the 14th century, but probably since the Viking ages or earlier.

Umeå in its first form was a parish with a wooden church and trade post located in the section of town now known as Backen (or Kyrkbacken).

However, no real city was built at the location selected by the king, and it lost its town privileges in the 1590s.

At the close of the Finnish War in 1809, a Russian army under Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly took Umeå and held it from June to August.

Umeå is situated on the inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia at the mouth of the Ume River, in the south of Västerbotten.

From here a ferry line connects it with the neighbouring city of Vaasa (Swedish: Vasa) in Finland.

[39] Umeå is located along the Blue Highway, which is an international tourist route from Mo i Rana, Norway to Pudozh, Russia via Finland.

Well-known metal bands from Umeå include Cult of Luna, Gotham City, Hollow, Meshuggah, Mexicoma, Nocturnal Rites and Persuader.

During the 1990s, the influence of Umeå hardcore punk bands such as Final Exit, Step Forward, Refused, Abhinanda, Shield and Doughnuts and the local labels Desperate Fight Records and Busted Heads Records led to the growth of Umeå's hardcore scene.

In 2021 it was announced that Rally Sweden would relocate to the northern Swedish city of Umeå after being held in the province of Värmland since its foundation.

Although its head office is located in Uppsala (Ultuna), the university has several campuses in different parts of Sweden, including Umeå.

Key research fields of the University are life sciences (especially medical and cell and the molecular biology of plants), human-technology interaction, social welfare, ecology and gender perspectives.

The Umeå University works collaboratively with companies such as ABB, Volvo, Skanska, Ericsson, and Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).