Research and development of sustainable solutions

To cope with the challenges facing the world, we need to do things in new ways, develop new technologies and new business models. One example: in order to be able to transform the transport sector and the materials and chemical industry, technology is needed to use domestic resources such as biomass, electricity and biogenic CO2. This type of technology, such as biorefineries or the capture and use of carbon dioxide, exists in different degrees of maturity for different applications or products, but it is not commercially applied on a large scale. Research and development are needed here if the transition is to become a reality.

Companies and the public sector also need to develop their business, products or services in order to remain competitive or expand their market, find new ways to lead and organise society towards both environmental, social and economic sustainability or to connect people and technology in the best possible way. Here, too, research and development is a key factor in success.

By employing RISE as a research partner, organisations are given access to expertise and infrastructure that strengthens their own innovation power and guarantees quality in development work. As a research partner, RISE can either strengthen an existing research and development department or act as an extended department to the company, in cases where its own resources do not exist to build up its own research competence. And thanks to RISE's independence and that the customer owns their own intellectual property rights, the risks are non-existent that ideas and concepts will end up in the hands of competitors or other unauthorised parties.

With RISE as a research partner, companies and the public sector also gain access to Sweden's largest range of test and demonstration environments, which, in addition to increasing the pace of innovation and reducing risks associated with product, process or method development, can also be used to develop prototypes and production on a pilot scale. In combination with the expertise of RISE employees, the test and demonstration environments can contribute to reduced development costs and faster market introduction.

By pooling resources in a joint research program for, for example, an entire industry, research results can be achieved faster. In addition, the common knowledge can be advanced among everyone participating in a research programme and new networks can be created – national or international.

A prerequisite for being able to conduct successful research together with others is that all parties' existing patents, trade secrets and intellectual property rights are protected. RISE has expertise when it comes to managing rights, and also has extensive experience in leading and coordinating research programs. We can adapt our project methodology within the research programs to meet the industry's need to bring innovations to market faster. Even if a research program is conducted in a certain area, there is the opportunity to benefit from RISE's combined expertise and infrastructure of test and demonstration environments. All to broaden perspectives and add new knowledge interdisciplinary.

The ability to test and evaluate ideas at an early stage increases the pace of innovation, reduces risks and streamlines product, process and method development. The benefits of using a test and demonstration environment are many, but some central ones are reduced development costs, shortened time from idea to market, development of prototypes, pilot production and the ability to verify processes or services. By using the test and demonstration environments together with RISE's research expertise, our customers and partners can get the maximum benefit from their tests.

RISE's more than130 test and demonstration environments are very different in nature; from AstaZero, a test track for automated vehicles or the test environment for biorefinery, Bioeconomy Arena, to Cyber range, a cybersecurity test facility or our virtual lab for digital transformation. Common to all is that they are open to business, academia and the public sector and can be used both in direct industrial assignments or as a resource in joint research and innovation projects. Here, the materials, products, services and processes of the future can be scaled up and tested under real conditions – conditions that can be adjusted as needed but also repeated to be able to compare how the development work affects the tests.

RISE is a leading international partner for business and the public sector in technical evaluation and verification, and in that area can offer both accredited methods and standards for testing as well as expert services in areas where international standardised methods have not yet been available.

Even if a product, material or process has proven to work on a laboratory scale, the road to the market is rarely wide open. In order to assess the commercial viability of a process, evidence is often required that the process works on an industrial scale. If a material is to be verifiable on the market, enough of it needs to be produced for that verification to be viable. Good ideas risk getting stuck in the so-called "valley of death" and not reaching all the way to a successful commercialisation if there are doubts that they hold up to large-scale production – either technically or economically.            

In RISE's infrastructure of test and demonstration environments, it is possible to test what happens when a process is scaled up. And thanks to our expertise in process development and industrialisation, we can help adapt the process to meet the requirements of a scale-up, in a way that at the same time ensures that the process is profitable.

Several of our testing and demonstration facilities also have the capacity to manufacture larger quantities of materials to carry out verifications. Here, too, our experts in material development and design can help develop and adapt the materials and give them the properties that are in demand.

Imagine that you are facing a problem that needs to be solved in order for you to move forward in the development of a product or the improvement of a process, but that you do not really manage to solve it on your own. You may have suffered from acute problems in a production process, or need someone to bounce ideas around financing circular business models with. In that situation, would it not be valuable to be able to enlist the help of an expert – either to discuss the problem and get new perspectives so that you may be able to find the solution on your own, or to get practical help in solving the problem? In both cases, RISE is the answer.

With expertise in a very large number of areas that are relevant to both business and the public sector, and long experience from countless research projects and previous customer assignments, we can ensure that your projects or your business do not stop. RISE also has access to advanced equipment that allows us to make the analyses that our customers do not have the opportunity to do themselves, and thus come up with a solution to the problems that our customers need our help with. Not infrequently, we can also point to factors – external or internal – that we, based on our expertise and experience, know will affect your business, so that you can include that information in your future development work and thus avoid encountering more problems along the way.

The demands of customers and citizens as well as global trends, such as digitalisation and sustainability, drive the need for renewal and development in companies and organisations. The tool to meet this development is often spelled innovation – either individually or in collaboration with others. But in order for the innovation to create real benefit and to get a return on the efforts that are carried out, the work needs to be led in a systematic way.

RISE offers innovation management based on the world's first guiding standard, ISO 56002. The standard makes it possible to establish and maintain systematic innovation work in both companies and public organisations, and takes a systematic perspective on innovation. We can help with mapping of innovation capacity, show where the organisation needs to focus on to increase its capacity for innovation and increase the understanding of how to succeed with its innovation work by working systematically.

We also offer certification of innovation leaders according to a certification rule developed together with the professional association Innovation Leaders. The certification can be seen as a way to quality assure and strengthen people's ability to lead systematic innovation work.