Articles and blog posts on service innovation

OOAKI (one-of-a-kind-living) is a Swedish sofa refurbishment startup that worked with RISE to develop its circular business model. In a conversation with RISE, OOAKI’s Chief Digital Officer, Lennart Svanberg, discusses how this shift was inspired by a closer relationship with customers.

Fewer professionals will have to care for more elderly people. To ensure that there are enough care staff and resources in the future, digital solutions and new working methods are needed. Höganäs Omsorg has taken this to heart.  

In order to break the cycle of decline in residential areas, various stakeholders from the business community, public sector, academia and civil society must collaborate. While this is easier said than done, positive development has been achieved in Tynnered thanks to the strong commitment of many stakeholders.

How long can everyday life keep flowing — with morning coffee and water from the tap — before something changes? The Drop it project explores how we can save water without sacrificing too much of our daily comfort, by combining smart technology with changes in behaviour. In a changing climate, we need to protect our most vital resource – water.

On match days at Eleda Stadium, huge volumes of people, food and drink move efficiently through the stadium. Malmö FF is now the first football club in Sweden to receive environmental certification.

Launched in response to industry's need for increased competitiveness, the challenges of the future have become more numerous and complex. The development programme led by RISE is more relevant than ever.

Innovation doesn’t happen by itself. To go all the way from idea to business opportunity and success requires leadership and organization. Now, companies and organizations have the opportunity to set a new standard and lead the way for future innovation efforts with ISO 56001 through RISE. The question is, who will be first – the public sector or private enterprise?

Reversed design with AI turned into part experiment part art project in designing a unique stage set for the Computer Science Open House 2025 at RISE. It began as a lighthearted message in a Teams chat and soon evolved into a shared vision.

We have created a system where those who try to do the right thing – in food, construction, automotive or the public sector – often have to pay more, face more obstacles and take greater risks. At RISE, we develop models that reverse the logic: where sustainability pays off and societal benefit becomes business benefit.

Sweden being a competitive nation in AI is an excellent vision. But it's important to remember that it's about quality, not quantity. "We don't need the most AI, but the best used AI. We need to understand both the technology and society," says Kristina Knaving of RISE.

If Sweden needs to generate more energy, improving efficiency is the cheapest, fastest and most environmentally friendly way. Perhaps a successful concept in Switzerland could encourage more Swedish companies to replace energy-hungry machinery and outdated lighting?

The companies that can meet the demands of the future are those that dare to look beyond the obvious and manage multiple possible scenarios. With the right tools, you can navigate uncertainty and take control of your future – with innovation at its heart.

Climate change has long been characterised by reactive thinking and blame. But meeting the challenges of the future requires a new perspective that puts human needs and innovation at the center. – Businesses and cities should see climate change not as a blame game, but as an opportunity to innovate, says Dennis Pamlin, innovation expert at RISE.

Circular products and services that are received with little interest are not doing much for the green transition. New research shows what it takes to create circular offers that customers actually want.

Drug development is at the heart of society. But developing a commercial product is a long, expensive and complex process – and smaller companies can easily get stuck along the way. "With a long-term development partner, you are more likely to secure everything from funding to expertise and equipment," says Anna Minidis, who works with life sciences at RISE.

Cities rank high in quality of life surveys. Unemployment is low and access to higher education is good. At the same time, they have renewable energy, metals and minerals that are crucial to the development of green technology. It's all about the north of Sweden, of course. Several top politicians have described it as a "shop window to the world" when it comes to industrial change. But it's not just the industry that needs to develop, society also needs to keep pace. To achieve this, the region must act as one, with combined forces.

Every year, thousands of organizations – both Swedish and foreign – turn to RISE for help in taking their product, process or entire business to the next level and meeting new demands and expectations from customers and citizens.

FairChain and the Bär i Bygden initiative show that it IS possible to create a fairer, more sustainable berry industry by using resources smarter. Through shorter value chains, efficient technology, and strong local engagement, we can build a model that makes each coin circulate multiple times within the region.

Ireland's official standards body learned that there was a specialized team in Sweden certifying innovation managers – and decided to use that expertise to take the next step in its own use of innovation management. Here is the first Irishman to pass through the eye of the needle.

Have you ever wondered why some instructions lead to concrete actions while others merely create confusion and leave people feeling uncertain?

On October 1, 2024, SSAB officially enters into partnership with the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing at RISE, thereby becoming its 21st member.

Göteborg Energi Nät needed new tools to smooth out the load on the power grid and assist customers in consuming electricity in the right way. The solution? New algorithms that automatically detect if the customer has an electric car, solar panels, or heats their home with electricity, which can be used to better plan the power grids and help customers adjust their consumption patterns—and ultimately avoid overpaying.

Antibiotics are essential to our health and modern healthcare. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance is a serious global health challenge, killing at least 35,000 people in EU countries every year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). For antibiotics to continue to work against infectious diseases, we need to be proactive.

Test and demonstration environments open previously closed doors - in more ways than one. They test the solutions of the future, while bringing together players from different industries and sectors. – For the green transition to gain momentum, several actors from different disciplines need to work together," says Per Lindquist, acting CTO at RISE.

"Design for All" relates to the vision of a society that includes everyone. The Sustainable Development Goals emphasize the need to prioritize these aspects for us to evolve as a future-proof and resilient society. But what does it really mean to design for all? And why is it so important?

Hello, Cecilia Warrol, Programme Director at Produktion2030. Over the years, Production2030 has provided funding for numerous projects focused on innovation and collaboration within additive manufacturing (AM). In the autumn of 2023, Production2030 also decided to co-fund the Additive Intelligence 4.0 event, organized by RISE and partners, at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre in March. You were there! What were your impressions of the event?

With the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), businesses are urged to conduct comprehensive assessments of their environmental impact, including the double materiality analysis. For many companies, this analysis will reveal a crucial finding: CIRCULARITY IS MATERIAL! The question immediately arises: Now what?

By the end of the century, it is estimated that we will share the Earth's finite resources with 11 billion people. This means that current approaches to sustainability and reduced consumption are not enough. "We need to measure success in new ways. From manufacturing and selling as many products as possible to examining how organisations can give people the best possible conditions to live meaningful lives," says Dennis Pamlin, innovation expert at RISE. 

As discussions surrounding the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10) unfold in Brussels, a chorus of voices from diverse networks is resoundingly advocating for a larger FP10 budget. Despite representing a spectrum of RD&I interests and priorities, these networks converge on one central message: a larger RD&I budget is indispensable for the EU's long-term competitiveness. 

In my professional life, I am constantly faced with the challenge of not only understanding what creates value for myself, but also how I can contribute value internally to the company as well as for those we strive to help. From the strategic salary conversation such as during that everyday cup of coffee.

Would a collection of typewriter manufacturers focused on reducing their own emissions have invented the computer? Are we about to get the equivalent of the world's lowest-emission typewriters, when what we need is something completely different?

Can we design products that have the potential to become more profitable for producing companies, and less expensive for customers? We have showed its possible, and few business leaders would say no to that proposition. Join us on January 26 and learn about Future Adaptive Design and how to design long-lasting products for circular business models.