Opinion piece: EU’s peace project threatened by outdated research policy

Current research policy within the EU peace project excludes funding for technologies that can be used both for civilian and military purposes. However, the framework program was developed before the war in Ukraine and the rise of AI. Today’s technologies are cross-sectoral. Therefore, the expert group Esir proposes in a new report that the European Commission should change course, writes Sylvia Schwaag Serger, President of IVA and lead author of the report, in DN Debatt on July 6, 2025.

“Lessons of history are almost completely useless!”

Joel Mokyr received the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in Stockholm on Wednesday – but visited IVA beforehand. Watch the film where Joel Mokyr and IVA’s President Sylvia Schwaag Serger, both professors of economic history, meet for a conversation about technology and growth.

IVA's President: some thoughts on dual use

Europe is ramping up its defense investments. This is, of course, a response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the radically altered geopolitical stance of the White House. Europe can no longer rely on the United States to guarantee its security.

Anne L'Huillier, Gerteric Lindquist, Bo Normark and Xiaodong Zou are awarded IVA's Gold Medals 2024

The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) awards this year's gold medals to Anne L'Huillier, Gerteric Lindquist, Bo Normark and Xiaodong Zou. They receive the award for their outstanding contributions to technology, economics, business and society. IVA's Gold Medal has been awarded since 1921.

She is set to transform the world’s oldest academy of engineering sciences

Today, Newspaper Dagens Industri publishes an interview with IVA's incoming CEO, Sylvia Schwaag Serger. Here you can read an excerpt from the interview about driving forces, choices and visions.

Embedl awarded for groundbreaking AI technology

Embedl wins IVA's Smart Industry 2024 Business Competition. The company develops innovative software tools and technologies that optimize machine learning models, with a focus on making AI models more efficient and energy-efficient.

IVA Gold Medal 2024: Xiaodong Zou

Xiaodong Zou is a chemist who fell in love with electron microscopes and who has succeeded in developing completely new methods for creating 3D images of atomic structures in porous materials.

IVA's Great Gold Medal 2024: Anne L'Huillier

Swedish-French Anne L'Huillier is the physicist and Nobel Prize winner who, against all odds, has succeeded in revolutionizing the possibilities of seeing into the world of atoms and molecules.

"United, swift and wise" IVA's President comments on the EU Commission's roadmap

Today, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the five-year plan for the EU's future competitiveness. "It is absolutely crucial for the future of our continent that the European Commission vigorously addresses competitiveness issues," says Sylvia Schwaag Serger, President of IVA.

Sylvia Schwaag Serger new president of IVA

Today, the Assembly of the Academy decided to appoint Sylvia Schwaag Serger as the new president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). Sylvia Schwaag Serger is a professor at the School of Economics, University of Lund, and since 2019 an elected fellow of IVA's Division Education and Research Policy.

IVA's 105th Annual Meeting

Many thanks to all fellows and friends of IVA who contributed to the festivities during this year's evening in honour of the art of engineering sciences!

IVA’s Gold Medal 2022: Peter Carlsson – the visionary who dared to invest

Peter Carlsson is the visionary who dared to invest in something that most people thought was impossible. Despite years of warnings and setbacks, he has managed the feat of building a giga factory for the manufacture of green batteries in the forest outside Skellefteå.

Cyber attacks a growing threat to Swedish business

Much publicised cyber attacks and Russian displeasure at Sweden’s NATO application have brought the issue of cyber security to the fore. In the run-up to this autumn’s elections, several authorities have already noticed increased foreign influence activity. And the threat is growing not only towards the state, but also towards Swedish companies. Many are not well equipped, says cyber security expert and IVA Fellow Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder.

IVA’s Gold Medal 2022: Peter Löthberg – the online rebel who connected the world

Peter Löthberg is a technology entrepreneur who, back in the mid 1980s, set out on a mission ‘to network the planet’. As an unstoppable force, he played a key role in the early emergence of the internet for many years, not least in the process of making Sweden one of the first countries in the world to become widely connected.

Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy

The Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation should be given responsibility to establish a national strategy to make Sweden a world leader in resource effectiveness and circularity. This is one of the messages communicated in this final report from a project of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).

Cybersecurity for increased competitiveness

The Cybersecurity for Competitiveness project aims to contribute to a broad and nuanced discussion on the importance of a solid and coordinated effort to strengthen Sweden's cyber security. The project started in 2021 and runs until June 2023. This report is part of this work.

Textile sustainability from a consumer perspective

This report has been produced as a separate appendix to the earlier report on resource-effective textiles produced within the framework of IVA’s Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy project. This report was written by Malin Viola Wennberg in her role as Communications Manager for the eight-year cross-disciplinary research programme called Mistra Future Fashion 2011–2019.

A Resource-Effective Food Sector in Sweden

Global food production today accounts for a significant percentage of human impact on the environment, the climate and the planet’s natural resources. The Food subproject, which is part of IVA’s project Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy, therefore wants to help find ways to reduce the amount of food that is lost or goes to waste.

Resource effectiveness through shared space in Sweden

Sharing space and existing offices is necessary in a sustainable society. A sector report from the IVA project Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy (ReCE).

The Human Edge: Creativity as a Driver of Technological Leadership