NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM IN SWEDEN

. Vasiljeva, N. Toivonen
Petrozavodsk State University,
Petrozavodsk, Russia
The Swedish innovation system is formed by three perspectives: the national innovation system, the
sectoral innovation system (in means a particular industry sector) and the regional innovation system.
In Sweden there are two ministries namely Ministry of Industry, ommunication and !mployment and
Ministry of !ducation and ulture that share the main responsibility for innovation policy. "lthough the concept
of innovation policy has been developed since the end of the #$$%&s, it wasn&t clearly defined until '%%#, when
the new institutional structure (organi(ation of research system) had been introduced. In order to focus on
coordination between economic growth policy and research policy, the Swedish "gency for Innovation Systems
()I**+)") was established. )I**+)" has a mission of promoting sustainable economic growth by
financing research and technology development (,-.) and developing innovation systems.
)I**+)" has a number of programs which cover all three innovation systems:
national programs / including the support for researchers in the process of commerciali(ation of research
results and competence centers, strengthening the lin0 between academic research and industrial ,-.1
regional programs / )I**)23T / ,egional 4rowth through .ynamic Innovation Systems1
sectoral innovation system which are introduced by the agency in priority areas namely IT,
biotechnology, advanced manufacturing technology and materials, transport and wor0ing life.
The development of general innovation policy is a responsibility of the Swedish government.
Ministry of Industry and Ministry of !ducation play the ma5or role, with the input from other ministries
especially on the ,-. activity, such as Ministry of 6ealth and Social "ffairs, Ministry of !nvironment,
Ministry of .efense and Ministry of 7inance, which is responsible for the general budget.
In '%%8 the Swedish 4overnment (Ministry of Industry and Ministry of !ducation) has introduced
its main innovation policy document 9Innovative Sweden:. The chief policy activities are focused on four
priority areas, namely:
.evelopment of 0nowledge platform for innovation
reation of innovative businesses and entrepreneurship
Increasing of the state contribution to innovation sphere
Stimulation of interest for entrepreneurship among people.
The formulation and implementation of technology and innovation policies are passed by the
government to its agencies. The agencies create a number of programs and fund them mainly using co;funding
from other sources (both state and private). The main agencies in this area are )I**+)", The Swedish
"gency for <usiness .evelopment (*=T!>), the Space "gency (,ymdstyrelsen), the !nergy "gency
(ST!M).
The research councils occupy separate places in the system. They are not charged with innovation
as such, but with the support and research policy implementation.
In '%%# the government introduced a new organi(ation of research system. The aim of the new
organi(ational structure was to:
promote concentrated actions in 0ey scientific fields
strengthen researcher control
promote collaboration between different research fields
improve the dissemination of information about research and its findings.
7urthermore, the new structure aimed to stimulate interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research
and provide leading professors and scientists with support for development of their own innovative ideas
and bringing of the research results to reach the mar0et.
The main research council 0ept the original name of The Swedish ,esearch ouncil
()etens0apsr?d), but since '%%# has started to play a pivotal role in the new system. Its tas0 is to support
basic research in all scientific fields. The ouncil is divided onto three research committees, each for
special scientific field: humanities, natural and engineering sciences, medicine and education. It funds
most of national basic research and provides the government with analyses of research policy and advice
on research issues. It also promotes Swedish participation in international research cooperation.
Moreover, two research councils were established at the same time / 7"S (The Swedish ,esearch
ouncil for @or0ing Aife and Social Sciences) in field of social sciences, and 7+,M"S (The Swedish
ouncil for !nvironment, "griculture Sciences and Spatial Blanning) in field of environment. They
promote and fund both basic research and problem;oriented research each in its area of responsibility. The
councils allocate their funding on the basis of scientific and scholarly criteria, after evaluation by the
application processing committees.
Most basic research in Sweden ta0es place at the universities, university colleges and several private
universities that ma0e up the Swedish higher education system. 6igher educational institutions are the main
research resources for business and society in the fields of basic research and ,-.. ollaboration is
commonly done by the 5oint pro5ects in ,-.. In order to strengthen the academia and business interaction
several national programs were created by the state agencies. These programs facilitate the process of
commerciali(ation of research results and creating small businesses at higher educational institutions.
+ne of such programs / )I**+)"&s program for establishment enters of !Ccellence at universities
and research institutions. These centers&s tas0 is to support long;term relations between academia, business and
state in innovation and ,-. areas. The main sphere of center&s actions is the research activity which produces
the results for the Swedish industry. "ll centers of eCcellence have scientific nature. @ith creation the networ0
of centers of eCcellence the process of technology transfer has become easier.
The sector of industrial research institutions also performs ,-., but that is directed to business.
Interactions with businesses are carried out by the means of production, transformation and accommodation of
research results to the needs of the industry. This sector is rather small in comparison with other +!.&s
countries1 therefore these research institutions closely cooperate with academia and other ,-. actors.
<usiness plays an important role in Swedish innovation system. The Swedish business sector ,-.
totaled D,D'E of 4.B or FG billion Swedish 0ronor (S!>) in '%%#. The most of ,-. too0 place in areas
of transportation eHuipment, IT products and pharmaceuticals. The highest increases in ,-. volume
foregoes currently in the pharmaceutical industry, where Sweden has been highly successful.
In the sectors that spend the most on ,-., eCpenditures are highly concentrated in a few ma5or
companies. The '% largest companies in Sweden account for approCimately 'ID of the business sector&s
total ,-. eCpenditure. 6owever, most of ,-. in business sector consists of development wor0. Aess
than #IG goes on basic and applied research. Main research fields are technology, and to some eCtent,
natural sciences and medicine.
The State and the business sector collaborate through 9industrial research institutes:, which they
fund 5ointly. +ther forms of public;private partnership in or near institutions of higher education are
technology par0s and enters of !Ccellence.
The funding of innovation activities in Sweden is divided into state (governmental) and private
(business) financing of two main sectors / ,-. and seed financing and venture capital.
Sweden&s eCpenditures for ,-. totaled 8E of 4.B in '%%#. The state investments of ,-. made
up ''E of the total budget. In '%%D the state ,-. eCpenditure reached 'G billion S!>, and during '%%G/
'%%J the sum will be increased by ',D billion S!>.
"bout #',G billion Swedish 0ronors set directly for university research, 8 billions are appropriated
for research at industry companies by government through )I**+)" support. <esides, the private
research councils and non governmental organi(ations invested ,-. sector with ', ' billion S!> in
'%%#.
International financial funds for research are designated mainly to educational system: !=
investment for educational grants is about F%% million Swedish 0ronor, international companies put up
about D%% million 0ronor in research activity in academia annually.
Sweden&s business sector&s investments in ,-. are the highest in the +!. in relation to the
country&s 4.B. The annual amount is about $%% billon S!>. This is F%E of the whole investments volume
in ,-.. The most part / JFE / is aimed for the development activity and goes to ,-. in business sector.
7or the period between #$F% and '%%D, the Swedish innovation system had been characteri(ed by
an underdeveloped mar0et of venture capital and seed;financing. It has started to grow only very recently
and suddenly attracted substantial capital. In #$$%s the venture capital and seed;finance increased
drastically in most +!. countries. Sweden was among the top ones with averaged %,#E of 4.B for
seed and start up and %,'KE for eCpansion and replacement in '%%'.
#

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for the period #$$G;#$$$ Sweden was on the $
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place in relation to )1 and #$$$/'%%# / on the K
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