Two centers and three strategic reinforcement areas

The rapid pace of digitalisation has come at a cost in the form of increased cybercrime and other negative consequences. To protect society, trade and industry and individuals, cybersecurity needs to be strengthened. The challenges are both technical and social. RISE wants to focus on utilising cyber ranges, which are special test and demo facilities, in order to test and demonstrate solutions and appropriate levels of protection in a controlled manner. Security policies, processes and agreements also need to be formulated and tested. Measurements carried out remotely need to be quality assured, and the same is true for development of digital authentication. Another important area with potential for improvement relates to data sharing privacy. In a world of disinformation, RISE plays an important role in development, where independence is paramount.

Centre manager: Kim Elman.

Read more about cybersecurity.

At present, Swedish society and trade and industry are, by and large, part of a service economy, yet follow-ups and measurements are carried out according to a product economy.  As a result, it becomes difficult to assess the success and impact of measures targeting sectors that encompass innovations relating to services, interoperability and sustainability. We need to develop new quantities such as categorical measurements along with quality assurance outcomes. Furthermore, methodological development is needed for calibration and the development of benchmarks for categorical quantities. For this development and to be able to work with prediction and prevention, data, modelling and simulations are needed. It is necessary to design management processes using cause-and-effect logic to be able to ensure confidence in change processes at different system levels.

Strategic research manager: Aslak Fellin. 

Read more about metrology and measurement technology, circular economy, system innovation, service innovation and built society.

Society and industry are facing many complex challenges. An isolated issue cannot be resolved without taking into account the associated consequences, regardless of whether the solution required is technical, scientific or social in nature. A combination of these is often required along with a cross-link of consequences based on a holistic perspective. To elucidate the system dynamics of the challenges as well as the value networks in trade and industry, expertise in scenario analysis is required. For society and trade and industry to adopt circular thinking with respect to our services and the associated resources, a developed circular approach including co-creation between companies is needed. We need to develop and carry out comprehensive regulatory innovation to usher in this behavioural change.

Strategic research manager: Emma Rex. 

Read more about system innovation, circular economy and future scenarios for circular furnitures.

The target established through the Swedish energy policy calls for a fossil fuel-free electricity system by 2040. Not only does this place high demands on the development of renewable production and integration, but on functioning market models and reliable forecasting as well. Large volumes of solar and wind power present challenges in terms of flexibility, storage and interoperability between energy carriers. Electrification of industry and the vehicle fleet presents further challenges in terms of electricity supply. With a smart energy system, the integration of electricity and district heating/cooling must be ensured in order to exploit synergies. To achieve a robust and flexible energy system, energy systems and scenario analysis that include policy and market design are crucial to the system’s effect. 

Strategic research manager: Caroline Haglund Stignor.

Read more about energy and energy systems and cooling and heat pump technology.

Sweden has good opportunities to make progress in AI since a generally high level of digital competence exists. AI is the nexus of advanced digitalisation and its applications in smart products, smart production, services and automation, and it is fundamentally changing companies and society. An increase in available computational power, very high volumes of data, better algorithms and machine learning will enable smarter governance of cities, industrial processes and applications. Digital twin systems are made possible in a whole new way by means of data-driven systems. Other AI development areas include image recognition and spoken language translation in real-time, as well as the development of autonomous vehicles. In addition to the development of hardware and software, it is of great importance to work with governance by influencing the framework and ethical rules for AI, since the consequences of AI differ from what society has experienced in the past.

Centre manager: Sverker Jansson.

Read more about the centre for applied AI.