How Sweden goes about innovating

Sweden's attitude towards innovation is perhaps best exemplified by the Swedish innovation agency, Vinnova, a government agency founded in 2001 based on a series of predecessors going back to at least 1968. The innovation agency functions much like its counterparts in other countries, similarly to the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) in neighbouring Finland, and to the part of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) that does seed funding on the other side of the Atlantic. The Swedish government gives Vinnova more than €300m each year to invest through grants to different kinds of actors, which might be small companies, research institutes, large competence centres, or consortia of companies working together on projects. Vinnova invests this money along 10 different themes, including sustainable industry and digital transformation. To report on the social and economic effects of its funding, the agency produces two impact studies annually.