A large part of the Bill is not yet complete and there is still considerable uncertainty about the details of certain key initiatives will be structured. Bearing in mind that the Bill also entails a reallocation of research resources, both between and within higher education institutions, education will also be indirectly affected.
The Research Bill clearly establishes that the goal of research policy is for Sweden to be one of the world’s leading research and innovation countries and a leading knowledge nation. This is completely in line with the University’s goals and what we are already working towards.
The Bill is based on an analysis of society and the state of research that we also recognise and share. It is based on, among other things, Mario Draghi’s report “The future of European competitiveness” (2024), which states that Europe and Sweden are losing competitiveness and the ability to innovate in relation to the USA and Asia (particularly China). Another point of departure is that Swedish research is good but ought to be better (see, among other things, the Research Barometer for 2023). The Bill states: “Sweden is in a good position regarding quantity – the number of research publications – but not in terms of impact”.
The Bill presents a large number of initiatives that aim for excellence, internationalisation and innovation. Many of the initiatives are financial. However, the Bill also includes several other important measures such as “a review of higher education institutions’ forms of association” and “a joint application system for research funding”.
The Research Bill contains a large number of financial initiatives (the summary table lists 56 initiatives). These can be divided into five categories:
- Reallocation of direct governmental funding and new competitive direct governmental funding
- Evaluation of the existing Strategic Research Areas (SRAs) and possible reallocation of funding
- Initiatives for excellent research environments (8 new SRAs, clusters of excellence for groundbreaking technologies, and funding for groundbreaking research and centres of excellence)
- Targeted initiatives and research programmes (36)
- Investments in research infrastructure
The Government is clear: the aim is to allocate the direct governmental research funding to those areas and higher education institutions that can best fulfil the goals of excellence, internationalisation and innovation. To this end, indicators will be used for bibliometrics (top 10), competitive funding (with a great emphasis on EU funding) and strategic recruitment. This will create a spiral in which those who obtain more external funding also receive more direct governmental funding, while those who obtain less competitive funding also receive less direct governmental funding.
Lund University has every opportunity to perform well in the future. A lot of excellent research is conducted at the University, even though the percentage of top 10 publications has declined somewhat. Lund University has been successful in applying for and obtaining EU funding, but now we must increase our efforts. We are also successful regarding innovation – most patents and startup companies originate in Lund. We have great possibilities, but it will require a lot of work by researchers, departments, faculties and the entire University.
/Per Mickwitz
Read more:
- Research and Innovation Bill “Research and Innovation for the Future, Curiosity and Benefit” (2024) (in Swedish)
- Mario Draghi “The future of European competitiveness” (2024)
- Research Barometer 2023
- Lund University tops patent ranking
