Report: Challenges for meeting increased demand for metals and minerals

Observations about conditions and challenges, as well as measures required to ensure access to metals and minerals to cope with the transition to a fossil-free society. One conclusion is that the demand for metals and minerals will increase sharply, and that Sweden and the Swedish mining cluster play an important role in meeting the needs.

IVA's Great Gold Medal 2024: Anne L'Huillier

Swedish-French Anne L'Huillier is the physicist and Nobel Prize winner who, against all odds, has succeeded in revolutionizing the possibilities of seeing into the world of atoms and molecules.

Call for proposals for IVA's 100 list 2024

Research should benefit business and society. This is the background to IVA's 100 list, which highlights current and promising research projects. We are now looking for candidates for the 2024 100 list, the sixth in a row. The theme is innovation through interdisciplinarity.

Sylvia Schwaag Serger new president of IVA

Today, the Assembly of the Academy decided to appoint Sylvia Schwaag Serger as the new president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). Sylvia Schwaag Serger is a professor at the School of Economics, University of Lund, and since 2019 an elected fellow of IVA's Division Education and Research Policy.

Challenges of extracting rare earth elements

Just after New Year, LKAB announced that it has made the largest rare earth discovery in Europe to date. The elements are vital for building batteries, wind turbines and other technology that can enable a rapid transition to a fossil-free society. However, extracting the in-demand elements comes with some major challenges that need to be resolved, according to Jenny Greberg, Vice President Technology at LKAB and a Fellow of IVA.

IVA’s Great Gold Medal 2022: Lars Samuelson – a Swedish nano pioneer

IVA’s Great Gold Medal is awarded to Lars Samuelson – the pioneer who has made a name for himself as one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

IVA’s Gold Medal 2022: Peter Carlsson – the visionary who dared to invest

Peter Carlsson is the visionary who dared to invest in something that most people thought was impossible. Despite years of warnings and setbacks, he has managed the feat of building a giga factory for the manufacture of green batteries in the forest outside Skellefteå.

New launch site makes Sweden a major space nation

Europe’s first satellite launch site has now been inaugurated – and it is Swedish. Just in time for Sweden’s presidency of the EU, Friday 13 January saw the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new launch site at Spaceport Esrange outside Kiruna. As the first of its kind in Europe, this marks a major step towards making Sweden a more significant space nation globally, says Anna Rathsman, Director-General of the Swedish National Space Agency and Fellow of IVA.

Cyber attacks a growing threat to Swedish business

Much publicised cyber attacks and Russian displeasure at Sweden’s NATO application have brought the issue of cyber security to the fore. In the run-up to this autumn’s elections, several authorities have already noticed increased foreign influence activity. And the threat is growing not only towards the state, but also towards Swedish companies. Many are not well equipped, says cyber security expert and IVA Fellow Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder.

IVA’s Gold Medal 2022: Peter Löthberg – the online rebel who connected the world

Peter Löthberg is a technology entrepreneur who, back in the mid 1980s, set out on a mission ‘to network the planet’. As an unstoppable force, he played a key role in the early emergence of the internet for many years, not least in the process of making Sweden one of the first countries in the world to become widely connected.

Insufficient EU support for Ukraine

One year on from Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is a country in need of huge support from the outside world, and not just in military form. It is already estimated that the costs of rebuilding the country will be many times higher than the value of the entire Ukrainian economy. And the help that the EU is currently providing is far from sufficient. So says Torbjörn Becker, Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) at the Stockholm School of Economics, and Fellow of IVA.

Innovation the Swedish way

No other country has produced as many revolutionary innovations per capita as Sweden. In the book Innovation the Swedish way, produced at the initiative of IVA, authors Eva Krutmeijer and Henrik Berggren delve into the structures that created Sweden’s favourable innovation climate. Read four of the chapters here!

Cybersecurity for increased competitiveness

The Cybersecurity for Competitiveness project aims to contribute to a broad and nuanced discussion on the importance of a solid and coordinated effort to strengthen Sweden's cyber security. The project started in 2021 and runs until June 2023. This report is part of this work.

IVA Business Executives Council| Summer Session 2026

IVA's President: The Government as the Lead Customer

Public procurement accounts for nearly one-fifth of Sweden’s economy, amounting to approximately 1,200 billion Swedish kronor per year. EU-wide, the corresponding share is 14 percent. Given its scale and the nature of the purchases, public procurement could serve as a powerful driver of technological development, innovation, and, consequently, growth in Sweden and Europe.

Seminarium: Ny kärnkraft i Sverige - möjligheter, utmaningar och vägval

Riksdagen har beslutat om åtgärder för att bana väg för ny kärnkraft, och statliga Vattenfall har nyligen deklarerat att de avser att gå vidare med planerna att bygga småskaliga modulära reaktorer (SMR). Hur ser teknikläget för SMR:er ut, och hur kan en satsning på ny kärnkraft komma att påverka elsystemet?

Seminarium: Chalmers ekosystem för excellens och nyttiggörande

På Chalmers finns ett unikt ekosystem som förenar forskning, entreprenörskap och innovation i världsklass. Genom Chalmersstiftelsen, Chalmers Next Labs och Chalmers Ventures har man skapat en självförsörjande modell där kunskap, kapital och entreprenörskap driver varandra framåt.

Seminarium: Elnätets utmaningar i Västra Götaland

Elnätet är idag den kanske största flaskhalsen i Sveriges elektrifiering. IVAs rapport "Elektrifieringen - så river vi barriärerna" visar att tillståndsprocesser, föråldrade regelverk och brist på samordning gör att utbyggnaden tar för lång tid. Hur kan Västra Götalands-regionen agera för att stärka sin elförsörjning och konkurrenskraft?

Norrbotten – platsen där framtiden formas

Hur ska Sverige agera när EU:s forsknings-, innovations- och industripolitiska system reformeras?