Welcome to RISE – The Swedish Research Institute

The RISE institutes Innventia, SP, and Swedish ICT have merged in order to become a stronger research and innovation partner. Through our international collaboration programmes with academia, industry, and the public sector, we ensure the competitiveness of the Swedish business community on an international level and contribute to a sustainable society. Our 2,200 employees support and promote all manner of innovative processes, and our roughly 100 testbeds and demonstration facilities are instrumental in developing the future-proofing of products, technologies, and services. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden is fully owned by the Swedish state.

The development of RISE – background

In the autumn of 2014, an extensive analytical and strategic project was initiated amongst the co-owners of the RISE institutes, the purpose of which was to analyse the market share and business services of the RISE Group, along with its strengths and the challenges it faces in order to identify improvement potential, achieve a more unified vision of the company and its future and goals. Swerea’s owners elected to not participate in this project.
Since then, Innventia, SP, and Swedish ICT have merged, with the aim of together creating a more united institute sector and becoming a stronger innovation partner for both the Swedish business community and broader society. In 2017 we changed our name to RISE. Pia Sandvik is the MD of the new macro-institute.
– What is most inspiring about this role is that I have the opportunity to develop the potential of the new RISE. We really have an opportunity to increase our ability to fulfil the needs of clients, Pia Sandvik says.

New services

The new RISE will develop more services that will benefit clients in the long term. In particular, this will be carried out through a broadening of the range of services offered and the development of a system that facilitates better access to the various operations. These developments are in response to feedback RISE have received, primarily from small- and medium-sized companies.
– Small- and medium-sized companies are incredibly important for Sweden’s economic growth, but often struggle to access research and development. RISE’s experience with assisting clients in defining their problems, together with our wide range of expertise, allows us to work with almost any technology readiness level. In other words, we are better prepared than many other organisations in the field to provide excellent support for the development of small- and medium-sized companies, Pia Sandvik says.

Six divisions

The process of creating the new RISE will take place gradually, over the course of the years to come. In 2017 all of the institutes* will change their name to RISE. The headquarters will be established in Gothenburg. The new RISE will be organised as six divisions:
RISE Bioeconomy
RISE Built Environment
RISE ICT
RISE Bioscience and materials
RISE Safety & Transport
RISE Certification

Trans-boundary business and innovation areas

In addition to the divisions, five business and innovation areas are being established across the boundaries of the divisions. Their purpose is to ensure that RISE is prepared to meet societal challenges on the global scale that are related to, for example, climate, energy, environment, safety, and demography, as well as health and education. Such challenges require a trans-boundary approach, which is achieved through the work carried out within RISE’s business and innovation areas, in combination with our expertise in innovation management and R&D, and experience in working in close collaboration with the industry.
The name of the business and innovation areas are:
Digitalization Energy and Biobased Economy
Life Science
Mobility
Sustainable Cities and Communities

All clients who are affected by any aspect of this change, for example regarding agreements, will be contacted in good time.

RISE legal chart

Footnote:
*Some institutes will continue to be part-owned subsidiaries and retain their current names. This concerns, for example, Processum, Asta Zero, Fire Research AS, and PFI AS. *The institutes of Swedish ICT – SICS, Acreo, Viktoria, and Interactive Institute – are companies and will retain their names, but will operate under the umbrella of the RISE ICT division. This is also true for the CBI Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute within the RISE Built Environment division. *Swerea remains an associated company of RISE, with a direct industrial co-ownership of 57%.