Third Swede in space important door opener

IVA member Anna Rathsman is present when Marcus Wandt takes off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday to become Sweden's third astronaut in space. In her role as Director General of the Swedish National Space Agency, Anna Rathsman has been the spider in the web to make everything work. The mission could be a door opener for tomorrow's engineers and space researchers.

IVA’s Gold Medal 2023: Anders Blom

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.

IVA’s Gold Medal 2023: Anna Wedell

Medic and research leader Anna Wedell has created completely new conditions for discovering and treating thousands of rare diseases. By developing new tools for mapping individual patients' genes and establishing unique collaborations between research and healthcare, she has made ground-breaking breakthroughs in individually tailored so-called precision medicine.

IVA gets a boost with 40 new Fellows – here is the list

A further 40 prominent researchers and experts from the business and public sector were today elected as new Fellows of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). They all possess leading expertise in the fields of technology, economics and business.

IVA’s Great Gold Medal 2023: Håkan Samuelsson

In ten years civil engineer Håkan Samuelsson managed to reverse the negative trend for the Swedish national treasure Volvo. Under Samuelsson's unifying leadership, reputation and international competitiveness were regained, cultural challenges linked to Chinese ownership were bridged, and production could be kept in Sweden. In addition, Volvo took a prominent position in the most important transition for the automotive industry in 100 years – the transition to electric.

IVA’s Gold medallists 2023

The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) awards Håkan Samuelsson, Anders Blom, Annica Bresky and Anna Wedell with gold medals. They receive the award for their outstanding achievements in technology, economics, business and society. IVA's Gold Medal has been awarded since 1921.

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.

IVA spotlight on: EU's goals for critical metals and minerals

Last week, the European Parliament and the European Council agreed to pass the Critical Raw Materials Act, the EU's plan to secure the future supply of critical raw materials. This includes rare metals that could be crucial for Sweden's and the EU's ability to keep up with the green and digital transition. Researcher and IVA member Magnus Ericsson is one of the initiators of IVA's ongoing project 'Roadmap for Metals and Minerals,' which aims to provide answers on how the goals in the EU's plan can be achieved.

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.

Open AI research the only way forward

Recently, the US non-profit Future of Life Institute called on all ‘AI labs’ around the world to take a six-month break in the development of advanced AI technology. How good an idea is it to pause the development of AI, and what should this break involve? We asked IVA Fellow Sara Mazur.

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 100 List 2024: Sweden’s Most Promising Research Projects

A simple hair test for early cancer detection, a healthy sugar substitute, and a rapid test for tuberculosis. These are some of the research projects selected for this year’s 100 List, focusing on innovation through interdisciplinary research, compiled by IVA. All research projects are considered to have great potential to benefit society.

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.

Anders Ynnerman and Jonas Unger recieve the Chester Carlson Research Award

Researchers Anders Ynnerman and Jonas Unger recieve the Chester Carlson Research Award of 50,000 Swedish Kronor each for their contributions to research in visualization and computer graphics. The prize has been awarded since 1985 to promote scientific research in the field of information science.

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.

Mot en svensk strategi för immaterialrätt