Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research

Summary

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (Swedish: Stiftelsen för strategisk forskning, SSF) is a Swedish independent research-funding foundation. Its objective is to "support research in natural science, engineering and medicine that strengthens Sweden’s competitiveness".[4] It is located in the World Trade Center in Stockholm, Sweden.[5]

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research
Founded1994 (1994)[1]
Location
Coordinates59°19′52″N 18°3′24″E / 59.33111°N 18.05667°E / 59.33111; 18.05667
Key people
Lars Hultman (CEO)[2]
Employees16 (2011)[2][3]
Websitewww.stratresearch.se/en/

SSF was founded in 1994 by the Swedish government when the employee funds was discontinued under the Bildt Cabinet. When the Foundation was established in 1994 the government decided on a budget allocation of 6 billion. Almost 12 billion is distributed since then and in April 2014, the Foundation, thanks to good asset management and stock market growth, had a capital of about 11 billion. The funding of various projects by SSF in 2015 amounted to SEK 600,000,000.

Research programs

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SSF awards research grant of approximately SEK 600 million per year. SSF has funded graduate schools, a form of graduate programs that were important for the advent of the state-funded graduate schools.

Synergy Grant, former framework grants, supports a number of scientists from one large team of researchers or from a few independent research teams, co-located or at different colleges or institutes, which work together to solve an important research problem. SSF also supports strategic research centra. SSF also supports young scientists through programs as "future research leaders" and "Ingvar Carlsson Award". In an application form, mobility between universities and industry in both directions is stimulated.[6]

Executive directors

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  • 1994–1998: Ingvar Lindgren
  • 1999–2005: Staffan Normark
  • 2005–2012: Lars Rask
  • 2012-2013: Torbjörn Fagerström
  • 2013–present: Lars Hultman

Reports and media

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In August 2012, it was revealed by the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the foundation had spent large sums of its money on a party and pr rather than research grants. Between 2009 and 2012, a total of SEK 9,300,000 was paid out to the party organizer and pr-consultant Micael Bindefeld.[7][8]

Together with the economist Stefan Fölster the Foundation published the report "Every other job be automated within 20 years"[9] in 2014, which had a great impact in society and in the media.,[10][11][12] The report is about the ongoing digitalization and what the consequences are for the Swedish labor market. The calculations are based on a previous study at Oxford University[13] about the US labor market, and converted into the Swedish labor market. During the Almedalen 2014 the Foundation held a seminar entitled "Busy Doing Nothing" with the same theme and with Andrew Mcafee, author of the book "The Second Machine Age", as the main speaker, which also received great attention in the media.[14][15][16]

The following year, in 2015, SSF published the follow-up of the new jobs that can be created due to digitization, "The new jobs in the automation era".[17]

In Almedalen in 2016 the Foundation arranged the seminar "Villain, sick or family - who will have your DNA?"[18] and issued a report with the same name, also received media attention.,[19][20][21]

References

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  1. ^ "Research that shapes our future". Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Administration". Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  3. ^ "Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research". ERAWATCH. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Stiftelsen för Strategisk Forskning - finansierar svensk forskning".
  5. ^ "Find your way to SSF". Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Bidragsformer". Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  7. ^ Carlsson, Mattias (14 August 2012). "Festfixaren fick en kvarts miljon – varje månad". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  8. ^ Eriksson, Niklas (14 August 2012). "Skattepengar festades upp av stiftelse – Bindefeld tjänade 9,3 miljoner". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Vartannat jobb automatiseras inom 20 år" [One in two jobs will be automated within 20 years] (PDF) (in Swedish).
  10. ^ "Inom 20 år har robotarna snott ditt jobb". Dagens industri. 16 June 2014.
  11. ^ "Robotar och datorer tar hälften av jobben". Aftonbladet. 16 June 2014.
  12. ^ "Nu tar robotarna över: Här är vinnarna och förlorarna | Hälsa | Expressen". www.expressen.se.
  13. ^ "The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?". Oxford Martin School.
  14. ^ "450 000 jobb borta efter teknikskifte - Nyheterna - tv4.se". www.tv4.se.
  15. ^ "After work – när datoriseringen tar bort jobben". Dagens Nyheter. 29 April 2015.
  16. ^ Karlsson, Fredrik. "De ersätter ekonomer med robotar". Ny Teknik.
  17. ^ "De nya jobben i automatiseringens tidevarv" [The new jobs in the age of automation] (PDF) (in Swedish).
  18. ^ "Skurk, sjuk eller släkt" [Villain, sick or relative] (PDF) (in Swedish).
  19. ^ "Dna-expert vill varna människor som riskerar dö i förtid". DN.SE. 6 July 2016.
  20. ^ Elfström, Calle (25 June 2016). "Svagt stöd för dna-register mot brott". SVT Nyheter – via www.svt.se.
  21. ^ "Bara ett knapptryck bort". DN.SE. 6 July 2016.
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  • Official website