IVA's President: Some thoughts on Academic Freedom

Dear IVA Friends, 

It is the time of year when our sister academy, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announces the Nobel Prize laureates, and as always, it is both inspiring and gratifying to see how the world turns its focus to science during Nobel Week.

In an era when facts and science are being questioned at the highest levels, it feels perhaps more urgent than ever to celebrate science and the advances it brings to humanity.

“Get a good education, no one can take that away from you,” my grandfather used to say when I was little. And I took his advice to heart. As a professor of research policy, I avidly follow the discussion about education and research around the world. A Gallup poll published in September revealed that only 35 percent of Americans today consider higher education to be very important. This is a remarkable decrease of 18 percentage points compared to six years ago. This is worrying, but unfortunately also unsurprising.

Public confidence in science is a fundamental pillar of democracy, but today scientific results are being questioned and scientific facts are often treated as just another opinion. This—and other aspects of higher education, such as academic freedom and funding structures—will be discussed at a seminar at IVA on October 23. You are warmly welcome to attend!

I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the report we presented last week on Sweden's position in 48 strategic technologies. The report is the first of its kind among EU member states and is an in-depth analysis of Sweden’s current technological situation based on the Draghi report released a year ago. If we want to secure our position in the future as a world-leading country in technology and innovation, we need to know where we stand today. This report provides us with the answer to Sweden's global position in 48 key technologies, including quantum, AI, semiconductors, and 5G/6G, to name a few.

The report and its underlying data also provide us with in-depth knowledge of how Sweden's regions are positioned within the 48 technology areas. We will return with regional analyses and recommendations later this fall. The underlying dataset is available on our website for anyone seeking detailed knowledge on a thematic and geographical level.

My hope and desire is that more EU countries will acquire this knowledge, not at the aggregate EU level, but at the member state level. After all, that is where the largest resources are allocated and crucial decisions are made.