Sweden's highest card is that we have a high level of
knowledge and a long international experience. As a small foreign-dependent
country with large engineering companies, we have been trained for hundreds of
years in international competition with great success. We have also promoted a
high level of education and good research that has benefited our competitiveness.
But we also have weak cards. Our large companies that account for 75 percent of
all research and technology development, FoU, often expand their research in
countries with more favorable conditions. A second concern is that Sweden,
despite the fact that we are one of the world's most advanced research
countries, is almost the worst in when it comes to commercialize research results.
Furthermore, Swedish contributes less than four percent of the Swedish R &
D. In the U.S the corresponding number is 10 percent. And in the EU where the
technology knowledge is weaker, the number is 8 percent.
At the same time, consensus appears on the research breakthroughs in fields
like biomedicine, nanotechnology, IT and environmental technology and there are
future growth opportunities. The fact that the government's research bill puts
the innovation in focus is therefore good. One part of its initiatives shows a
sensitivity of power to the potentate between university research and business
needs. But it is not enough. Because in our increasingly globalized world where
innovation and knowledge quickly move between countries, just like people
experts and researchers, new rules are quickly established. If we are to
compete internationally, the general entrepreneurial climate must improve with
a framework that at least is creating competitive neutrality.
The Research bill needs to be strengthened with a number of incentives:
• Provide tax incentives for donations to research and education.
• Instate deduction for companies investing in research and provide special incentives
for small and new established companies. Today, the ability to make tax
deductions for companies that want to invest in research is lacking,but in many
other countries it is subsidized.
• Provide tax incentives for venture capital and business angels who want to invest
in research.
The General Contractor situation is important to the research results. It is now
time for Sweden to take a major step. We have skills, international business and
top research. Now is the right time to take advantage of the things we have.
Source: The Globalization Council