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Demokratiskolan
The Science & Research card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 126 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaKnowledge & technology
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence2 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Knowledge & technology

Science & Research

Basic & applied research, actors & funding

Research decides what we know about the world, and what society can do about it. In Sweden the universities are state-run, the money is allocated in competition and the big choices are made in the Government's research bill. As a citizen you pay for the research and live with its results.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · occasional r&d partnerships · approx 5 %
  • Region · clinical research in healthcare · approx 10 %
  • State · universities, grants, councils · approx 65 %
  • EU · framework programmes, researcher exchange · approx 20 %

The central government owns the universities and steers the grants, so the general election matters most. The EU's framework programmes weigh ever more heavily in the funding.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityOn the side
The regionThe clinic as a lab
Central governmentThe owner and funder · centre of gravity
Who decides?
No formal role in research policy.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the university hospitals, under an agreement with the state on clinical research.
The Riksdag (Sweden's parliament), the Government, the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) and UKÄ. Most universities are state agencies.
What do they decide?
No formal role, but many municipalities take part in R&D networks around schools and social services and open up their operations for studies.
Clinical research in healthcare: studies of treatments, medicines and ways of working with real patients.
The research bill sets direction and grants. The Research Council allocates money in competition, UKÄ reviews the quality.
Where are decisions made?
In R&D units and collaboration agreements with universities.
At the university hospitals and in the regions' R&D units.
In the Riksdag, in calls and in the universities' own decisions. The freedom of research is protected in law.
Who pays?
Small sums from municipal tax to shared R&D environments.
Regional tax plus central government funds under an agreement between the state and the regions.
The central government budget: direct grants to the universities and funds through the research councils.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Tip off the municipality about research collaborations, take part in studies looking for participants.
Regional election Take part in clinical studies, ask your health centre which research it takes part in.
General election A referral response ahead of the research bill, involvement in patient and interest associations.
EUHorizon Europe finances research across the whole union and ties labs together across borders. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case From bill to breakthrough
  1. State

    The research bill sets the course

    Roughly every four years the Government puts forward a research bill that the Riksdag decides on: how many billions, for what and why.

    Point of influence

    The general election steers the bill. Ahead of it, universities, companies and associations submit open input.

  2. State

    The Research Council issues calls in competition

    The research councils turn the grants into calls. Researchers write applications that are reviewed by other researchers, peer review, and most are turned down.

  3. EU

    Or via Brussels

    The same research group can instead apply for money from Horizon Europe, the EU's framework programme, in competition with the whole continent.

  4. Region

    The patients come in

    If the idea is about healthcare, the study moves into the university hospital, where the region and the state share responsibility for clinical research.

    Point of influence

    Studies need participants. Taking part, or getting involved in a patient association, is a direct way into research.

  5. State

    The result is reviewed and published

    The results are published, tested by others and woven into the state of knowledge. UKÄ meanwhile reviews that the universities maintain quality.

  6. Your everyday life

    The treatment reaches your health centre

    Ten years after the bill you get a treatment that did not exist when the money was decided. Research has a longer timeline than the term of office.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What should Sweden research more, and who should decide that?

  2. How free should research be from political priorities?

  3. Research results often come after several terms of office. How do you steer something that slow?

  4. Do you trust research, and what would make you trust it more or less?

  5. What role can you play yourself: as a study participant, a patient or a taxpayer?

Glossary

Forskningsproposition
The Government's combined proposal on research money and direction, roughly every four years.
Peer review
When researchers' applications and results are reviewed by other researchers before decisions and publication.
Anslag
Money that the Riksdag allocates in the central government budget, for example to the universities.
Klinisk forskning
Research carried out in healthcare, with patients, often at the university hospitals.
Lärosäte
A collective term for universities and university colleges.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.