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IVA’s Gold Medal 2023: Anders Blom – a key player for the Swedish aviation industry

Engineer Anders Blom has been decisive for Sweden's ability to maintain its position as one of the world's most prominent aviation nations, through more than 40 years of work in Swedish aviation. Not least by his contribution to building the strategic innovation program that has given Sweden a place at the table when it comes to international cooperation in the aviation industry.

Photo by Lisa Vanthournout on Unsplash
Articles
Published: 26 September 2023 Last Updated: 26 September 2023

In 2013, Anders Blom was commissioned by the government to start and build up Sweden’s national strategic innovation programme for aeronautics Innovair. The program, which Anders Blom led until 2022, mainly aims to create good conditions for a strong aviation industry in Sweden and to strengthen the aeronautics sector through increased collaboration, research and information dissemination. Innovair engages a large number of actors from larger industry, around fifty smaller companies, institutes (FOI, RISE, VTI), academia and the Swedish Armed Forces with supporting authorities (FMV, FHS, FOI) who actively participate in the program.

Anders Blom's career in aeronautics began in 1980 when he was employed at the Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden (FFA). FFA later became part of the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), where Anders Blom was active until 2020, including in the role of head of research. As an engineer and expert in material fatigue and structural mechanics, Anders Blom has also had several prestigious assignments in both civil and military aviation contexts, not least as an expert in the certification of the JAS 39 Gripen. He has also published around 150 articles for scientific journals and conferences.

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"Innovair is, as far as I know, the only program anywhere that can demonstrate that you have a common strategy for both civil and military aeronautics, which applies from regional, to national to bilateral international and multinational contacts via EU programs. A single agenda for everything.” 

Jury citation for IVA’s Gold Medal

Professor Anders Blom is awarded IVA's Gold Medal for his outstanding achievements in Swedish and international aeronautics as a researcher and research leader in material fatigue and structural mechanics with broad industrial application, and as long-term leader of the strategic innovation program Innovair since its inception.

About Anders Blom

Anders Blom was born in 1955, received his doctorate in 1984 at the KTH Department of Lightweight Structures, became associate professor in 1985 and was adjunct professor 1987–1996. During the years 1980 to 2020, Anders Blom was active within the Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden (FFA) and the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), for several years in the role of head of research. Anders Blom made a very fast international career, with collaborations with prestigious universities such as MIT, Brown and the University of California in Berkeley, and was eventually appointed to lead both the International Fatigue Congress (IFC) and the International Council for Aeronautical Fatigue and Structural Integrity (ICAF). Between 2013 – 2022, Anders Blom was in charge of Sweden’s national strategic innovation programme for aeronautics Innovair.

Anders Blom has received a number of prestigious awards and prizes, including the Thulin medal in both silver and gold, the USAF Lincoln Award for Aircraft Structural Integrity and the Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics medal for "outstanding contributions". Anders Blom's international recognition can best be understood by the fact that he received the ICAS Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Award in 2022, which is the single finest award in aeronautics in the world.

Anders Blom is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) since 1994.

IVA's Gold Medal

For more than a century, IVA has celebrated excellence in technology, economics, business and society by awarding Gold Medals to people who, through their outstanding achievements, have helped to create a better society.

IVA's Gold Medal is awarded for meritorious work within the academy's field of activity.

More on IVA's Gold Medals
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