KI president welcomes government research initiative

At a press conference today at SciLifeLab in Solna, the government presented its plans to boost funding for research and innovation, with a focus on the life sciences. The government appropriations for research and innovation will be successively increased every year to reach a total level that is four billion kronor higher in 2016 than today. Over the four year period as a whole this represents an aggregate increase in appropriations of 11.5 billion.

The direct appropriations for universities and university colleges are to be increased by 1.6 billion and a targeted investment in scientific excellence gives 300 million. SciLifeLab, which is run jointly by Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm University, Uppsala University and the Royal Institute of Technology, is to receive 200 million in increased appropriation. The government's research package also contains targeted investments in clinical treatment research, research on ageing and health, registry-based research and the coordination of clinical studies.

"This is fantastic news," says Professor Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, president of Karolinska Institutet. "They've heeded our requests, including the coordination of clinical studies, extra money for cutting-edge research and more solid basic funding for the university."

"I also think that this is a very important investment in Sweden's international competitiveness, in terms of both the life sciences and innovation in medicine and new drug development," she says.