Cross-technology roadmap for acceleration and scale-up

The initiative for clusters of excellence for cutting-edge technology, which is run jointly by the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova, will accelerate research and innovation in strategically important technology areas. The aim is to strengthen Sweden's position as a leading technology nation and create internationally leading environments in these areas.

The investment is still in its early stages and is estimated to amount to around SEK 1.2 billion per year from 2028. The state funding will be increased through private co-financing, EU participation and international collaboration. At the same time, international investments are increasing rapidly and global technological development is accelerating, which places higher eligibility requirements on long-term and powerful investments.

The investment should therefore be long-term and gradually strengthened.

Budget:Increased state funding from a total of 1.2 billion SEK per year from 2028 to at least 2 billion SEK per year from 2032.

Advanced research, testing and demonstration environments are crucial for Sweden's technology leadership and international attractiveness for leading researchers and technology companies. At the same time, there is a need for strengthened national prioritization capacity, better coordination and long-term investments in strategically important technology and research infrastructure.

The EU is making extensive investments in strategic technology infrastructure. Sweden therefore needs to act more proactively to take advantage of and benefit from these investments. This requires a comprehensive strategy for how research and technology infrastructures are developed, made available and linked to industrialization and scaling up.

To strengthen Sweden's position, the following measures should be implemented:

• Conduct a comprehensive analysis of how the Swedish system for technology and research infrastructures can be strengthened.
• increase government funding for infrastructures for cutting-edge research and groundbreaking innovation.
• Strengthening accessibility to technology and research infrastructures for business, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
• develop cooperation in the Nordic countries, within the EU and NATO around investments and accessibility.

Within this framework, a new programme should be established: Large Scale Labs. The program will develop internationally leading test and demonstration environments for advanced technology, with a clear connection to scaling up and industrialization. The environments will be open, internationally competitive and coordinated with Swedish and European initiatives.

Budget:At least 1 billion SEK per year from 2030, in addition to the current funding of R&I infrastructures.

Sweden currently lacks sufficiently powerful instruments to scale up groundbreaking and strategically important technology industrially. There is also a lack of flexible national instruments for co-financing large EU investments. Therefore, the Technology Step is needed as a new national financing instrument.

The instrument should have similar mechanisms for handling EU state aid rules as the Industrial Step in the climate field. The Technological Step should be able to co-finance project from the pilot stage to industrial production, where the technology is verified but the investments are too large and risky to be fully borne by private actors.

Co-financing should be directed to:

• capital-intensive project of great importance for Sweden's and the EU's competitiveness and security.
• strategically important EU initiatives, including IPCEI and major EU partnerships.

The investments should be linked to advanced research and technology infrastructures and relevant test and demonstration environments. They should also require private co-financing that, over time, is significantly greater than government contributions.

To have an effect on the entire innovation system, the Technology Leap should be coordinated with initiatives that strengthen demand, research, technology infrastructure and Sweden's ability to attract, develop and retain strategic expertise.

Budget: At least SEK 2 billion per year from 2030.

Sweden should establish more powerful government risk-sharing instruments to enable investments in strategic technology, industrial scale-up and climate transition.

The basic industry's transition to fossil-free requires very large investments. At the same time, the cost of reducing emissions with new technology is in many cases higher than today's emission price within EU ETS, which makes it more difficult for companies that are ahead of the transition to compete.

Although the price of emissions is expected to rise over time, demand for fossil-free products is still limited. Companies that invest early therefore risk being disadvantaged, while competition from countries such as China increases.

Sweden should therefore strengthen its risk-sharing instruments to mobilize private capital, reduce market risks, enable long-term investments and strengthen demand.

The effort should include:

• broadened credit guarantees.
• Contract for Difference for Net Zero Technology, Carbon Contracts for Difference, CCfD.
• risk-sharing solutions for demonstration and scale-up projects, for example through Industriklivet.
• demand measures such as public procurement.
• an investment bank to gather and build expertise in net-zero technology.

The instruments should be used in net-zero technologies, which are particularly important for the transition in emission-intensive industries. Credit guarantees should be broadened from a few very large project to also include smaller and medium-sized investments and larger parts of the innovation and industrialization chain. CCfD models can be used to reduce uncertainty linked to emission prices, demand and future market conditions.

The proposal is in line with developments in EU industrial policy and should be closely linked to the Competitiveness Fund, IPCEI, STEP, InvestEU and European Partnerships and Industrial Initiatives.

Proposed budget level:Several billion SEK in government risk space and guarantee framework, with the goal of significant private capital mobilization.

Sweden currently lacks structures to develop and demand groundbreaking solutions on a larger scale. Therefore, a new national programme for challenge-driven procurement of radical innovation – PRIS – is needed, inspired by DARPA (USA), SPRIN-D (Germany) and ARIA (UK).

The program should be based on important societal challenges and finance the development of new solutions through phased processes with clear milestones. It should have high risk acceptance, fast decision-making paths and be staffed with external experts. The public sector should be able to act as the first customer for the solutions that are developed.

PRIS should be able to:

• design innovation challenges and implement efficient development processes with short lead times.
• finance the participation of public actors in development and pilot projects.
• enable procurement, dissemination and scaling up of successful solutions.

The program needs to have a working method that is clearly different from traditional Swedish programme and is developed in close interaction with international counterparts. There are also potential synergies with the EU's EIC Accelerator.

Budget: At least 500 million SEK per year from 2030.

Sweden has a strong startup ecosystem, but many technology companies face a crucial capital gap in the step from development to market. This is especially true for deeptech companies with long development times and high capital needs. Strengthened risk sharing between the state and the private sector actors would improve the opportunities for these companies to scale up in Sweden.

Sweden therefore needs a more coherent policy for startups and scaleups, with a stronger connection between national initiatives and EU developments in the area. The policy should, among other things:

• strengthen university-based entrepreneurship and knowledge-intensive business environments.
• develop expertise in intangible assets, responsible internationalisation and dual use.
• strengthen innovation offices, holding companies and incubators as well as their national coordination.
• increase access to public funding in early stages.
• strengthen the conditions for attracting, developing and retaining entrepreneurs, researchers and key competence in strategically important technology areas.
• improve opportunities for startups and scaleups to participate in public procurement.

A new risk-sharing instrument should also be established: SPIRA. The program should target technology-based startups in the early commercialization and scale-up phase. Funding should be able to be provided through co-financing with conditional repayment, designed so that it does not hinder the possibilities of attracting private capital. Repaid funds should be reinvested in new companies, and a fund solution should be considered.

Budget:At least 500 million SEK per year from 2030.

The changing security situation and increased needs for resilience, security of supply and protection of strategically important technology have increased the importance of synergies between civilian and military technology areas. Sweden has good conditions for this development through strong civilian innovation ecosystems and a technologically advanced defense industry, but the connections between the systems are still poorly developed.

The Civil-Military Innovation Program, CMIP, should therefore be developed into a powerful instrument for dual-use innovation. The program should be able to support the entire chain from development to commercialization and scale-up, with fast-tracks linked to the needs of total defense and collaboration within the Nordics, the EU and NATO.

The investments should:

• connect project to need owner within the Armed Forces and total defense.
• create incentives and eligibility requirements for development and implementation.
• enabling funding from demonstration to operational use.
• ensure follow-up the extent to which the technology is put into use.

The program should also include mechanisms that strengthen the introduction of advanced technology in total defense.

Budget:At least 1 billion SEK per year from 2030.

The EU's investments in research, innovation, industrial development and security are becoming increasingly important for Sweden's competitiveness and technology leadership. At the same time, demands for national co-financing and strategic positioning in major European investments are increasing.

Sweden therefore needs to strengthen the incentives and conditions for Swedish participation in:

• FP10, the EU's upcoming framework programme
• EU Competitiveness Fund
• EU partnerships and missions

The technology leap and the investments in clusters of excellence can create stronger conditions for Swedish participation in IPCEI, EU partnerships and other strategic initiatives. However, further measures are needed to enable Sweden to take a more leading position in EU technology and innovation policy.

Therefore, Sweden should:

• compensate Swedish actors' indirect costs in EU‑project.
• increase resources for participation in EU partnerships.
• strengthen incentives for Swedish coordinators in EU‑project.

Sweden also needs to work more strategically and collectively to position itself within those parts of the EU's technology policy where Swedish strengths and security interests are particularly important.

Budget: At least SEK 500 million per year from 2030, in addition to the current funding.