Transformative Technologies has strengthened Mid Sweden University

- The research environment has contributed to a greater degree of internationalization, recruitment of international researchers and higher scientific impact in our publications. We have also created a more complete environment with both education and research, says Anders Fällström, Vice-Chancellor of Mid Sweden University.

The research environment that Mid Sweden University conducted during the years 2010-2020 has been evaluated by the analysis company Damvad on behalf of the Knowledge Foundation. The results show that the research program throughout the ten-year period has contributed to significant changes.

- The dialogue with the Knowledge Foundation has been challenging, but very good. We have developed breadth and excellence in research, at the same time as we have renewed our efforts in terms of competence development in industry at both basic and advanced level. A challenge has been to build a cohesive environment with a common vision and strategy and to implement a quality system that meets the requirements set by the Knowledge Foundation, says Hans-Erik Nilsson, dean at Mid Sweden University and responsible for the research environment.

More than 1000 scientific articles

Three higher education institutions have run the research environments for ten years and are included in the evaluation; Mid Sweden University, Halmstad University and Skövde University. During the period, the Knowledge Environment Program brought together more than 240 business partners in approximately 200 projects. A total of 191 doctoral dissertations, 120 licentiate dissertations and 610 master's programs have been completed within the three environments studied. The evaluation states that research production has generally been of high quality.

For Mid Sweden University, a total of 1,085 scientific articles have also been published and the Knowledge Foundation has granted the research environment Transformative Technologies a total of SEK 283.5 million.

- In addition to bringing together many business partners and contributing to high-quality research and education, the programme's greatest impact has probably been on the great strengthening of the strategic and organizational capabilities at each university, says Stefan Östholm, KK-stiftelsen.

- Major changes have been implemented - from an individualistic to a collective attitude, from an individual and isolated focus on research or education to a holistic focus on balancing and integrating research and education to achieve strong, profiled complete environments, says Torben Bundgaard Vad, responsible for the evaluation at Damvad Analytics.

The evaluation was carried out by Damvad Analytics during the period May-December 2020. The evaluation includes studies of documents, data analyzes, bibliometric analyzes, qualitative interviews, surveys and workshops.

- We will continue to work with strategic development of the university's research environment, systematic quality work with support for researchers and a balance between co-production with business and international research, says Anders Fällström.

For more information

Anders Fällström, Vice-Chancellor of Mid Sweden University, anders.fallstrom@miun.se, 010-142 86 40
Hans-Erik Nilsson, Dean of Mid Sweden University, hans-erik.nilsson@miun.se, 010-142 87 39