Decision on research infrastructure

“Long-term investment in research infrastructure is necessary in order to create good prerequisites for Swedish research,” says Björn Halleröd, Secretary General of Research Infrastructures at the Swedish Research Council.

The decisions made entail the largest individual Swedish infrastructure Max IV, now having stable operating conditions. The financing of SNIC means that Swedish research is guaranteed computer resources that are necessary in order to meet the rapidly increasing need for calculation capacity and analysis of large amounts of data.

Other major investments concern the building of a new organisation for biobanks, and coordinating and creating stable conditions for important databases within social sciences and medicine. All the investments are made in collaboration with Swedish universities, which are contributing important co-financing.

The new model for prioritising research infrastructure used by the Swedish Research Council means that calls are only issued every second year, and that they are based on a needs inventory.

“Despite a difficult financial situation, we have therefore been able to realise long-term investments into research infrastructure together with the Swedish universities,” says Björn Halleröd.