Characteristics of successful clusters

Each part of the cluster of excellence must be of the highest quality, while the interaction between the parts, from research to innovation and the market, is close, systematic and result oriented. 

The following qualities are fundamental for a cluster of excellence to be able to achieve international leadership. Together, they constitute the quality and capacity dimensions that will characterise the cluster's construction, development and long-term implementation capacity. These qualities are necessary and mutually reinforcing on the path to world leadership by 2035.

Management and governance

A cluster of excellence will be led by people with a documented ability to build internationally competitive environments and attract leading researchers, entrepreneurs and strategic partners. The Board of Directors and management shall together cover scientific excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship, capital and industrial competence. They must exercise strategic and actionable governance with a clear ambition to scale.

Research base

The cluster will be based on research of the highest international quality and be integrated into leading global networks. The research must be relevant to the initiative (groundbreaking technology), drive new areas of knowledge and form the basis for technological leaps with significant innovation potential. Research in the humanities and social sciences of relevance to the development and consequences of technology will be included.

Innovative capacity

The cluster shall have the ability to systematically transform research breakthroughs into technical solutions, companies and industrial renewal and utilisation. This means a capacity to take results from early research phase to verification, scale-up and broad utilisation through advanced engineering, successful entrepreneurship and capital attraction.

Dynamic innovation ecosystem

The cluster will develop into an open and experimentally oriented ecosystem with strong capabilities and a high level of activity in idea development, rapid testing, verification, development and scale-up. It should be able to bring together a large number of actors, up to potentially hundreds, and combine diversity with clear processes for collaboration and implementation.

Strategic direction and positioning

The cluster will focus on one or more technology areas, preferably with links to fast-growing and upcoming very large markets, where Sweden has or can take international leadership, with clear anchoring in national priorities and relevance to long-term societal challenges. The Excellence cluster needs to build up its unique strengths in order to establish an internationally well-known and well-positioned brand. 

Critical mass

To establish international leadership over time, critical mass is required in relation to the goals to be achieved. This may include strong scientific capacity, technological breadth, access to infrastructure, extensive innovation activity and entrepreneurship, financial resources, industrial anchoring, etc. Critical mass enables the capacity to drive larger ventures, take risks, change, and rapidly scale successful initiatives. 

AI-driven research

The clusters of excellence need to have a high ambition for AI-assisted research. This means that all clusters, regardless of their main theme, should systematically explore the potential of advanced AI tools and agent-based workflows throughout the research process. They should also work for a strong AI capability both organisationally and for the digital infrastructure of research.