IVA's President: some thoughts on Sweden's Innovation Status

Dear IVA Friends, 

Last week, IVA launched “Swedish Futures,” a project to develop a vision for Sweden as a world-leading country of technology and innovation. I am delighted with the tremendous response it has received. It is clear I am not alone in seeing the need for a cohesive and shared vision for Sweden in 2035. Thank you for all your positive messages!

IVA is now bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders to help us shape this vision. I look forward to presenting analyses and recommendations on how we can build a strong Sweden for the future.

Two rankings recently confirmed Sweden’s distinction as an innovative country. Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published its Global Innovation Index 2025. In this ranking, Sweden stood fast in second place, maintaining the position it has held in recent years. Only Switzerland is ahead of us. In the European Innovation Scoreboard released this summer, Sweden also took second place, again behind Switzerland.

This is of course an honor, but what do these rankings say about the future? Both surveys look at the situation in the rearview mirror, not in a crystal ball.

Sweden is in a strong position, with continued major government investments in the latest R&D bill and forward-looking companies that year after year allocate enormous sums to R&D, much of which is invested in Sweden.

But conditions are changing rapidly. The logic of free trade is being challenged, and technology is becoming increasingly important in a more geopolitically uncertain world. To remain a leading technology country, it is not enough to keep up the good numbers. We also need to understand how to best use our resources. What programs should the government and research funding agencies develop going forward? How can we apply AI to streamline research? How should the Swedish business sector best focus its R&D? These are questions that leaders in EU countries need to ask themselves.

Last week, former ECB President Mario Draghi warned that Europeans are becoming too complacent. I will let these words be Mario's and not mine. But a year has now passed since the Draghi report was released, and I fear that countries are doing very little to heed its warnings. Admittedly, the European Commission has presented initiatives such as the Competitiveness Compass and the Strategy for Innovation and Growth, but at the member state level, it is business as usual.

To know where we are going, we need to know where we are now. Based on the Draghi report, IVA has therefore undertaken an in-depth analysis of Sweden's position in 48 key

strategic technologies (KSTs), including quantum computing, AI, semiconductors, and 5G/6G. We will present our findings at a seminar next week.

Sweden is the first EU country to conduct such an in-depth technological analysis of our strengths and weaknesses. My hope and desire is that other 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 the most crucial decisions are made.

As to innovation rankings, I believe we will take second place again next year and the year after. The big question is where we will be in 10 years' time.