Leading through innovation: Why investment in R&D and technology is critical to increasing Swedish and UK competitiveness

On May 5, we had the pleasure of inviting our members to a panel discussion on Leading through innovation: Why investment in R&D and technology is critical to increasing Swedish and UK competitiveness hosted by Volvo Cars.

We had the privilege of listening to three experts, Karl-Johan Karlsson, Ödgärd Andersson and Christian Hedelin who all gave their perspective on innovation and what Europe can to do increase it.

Karl-Johan talked about how Europe has lagged behind the USA and Asia in terms of competitiveness for decades. He emphasized that the European Commission has now declared that competitiveness is a clear priority for this term, and that the economic turbulence in the surrounding world could actually create opportunities for Sweden to lead in strengthening competitiveness through necessary reforms. He notes a crisis awareness in Sweden and the EU, which suggests that the pace of reform could be quite high moving forward.

Regarding innovation at AstraZeneca, he highlights the main driver as the will to develop new treatments for patients globally. The pandemic accelerated collaboration, both within the pharma sector and between industry, academia, and healthcare. He also notes that government attitudes play a role in strengthening competitiveness, where Sweden’s government has a positive attitude towards the life science sector and its importance to Sweden, and that significant differences exist between nations in terms of research infrastructure and economic incentives.

Ödgärd emphasized the importance of financing the tech industry, particularly interesting startups, to accelerate competitiveness and build businesses in Europe. Regarding key drivers of innovation in the AI sector, Ödgärd highlights a mission-driven approach focused on an important goal, such as making the world safe and saving lives. This requires embracing risk, being highly adaptable, and remaining open to new technologies. Regarding AI, Ödgärd notes the significant acceleration and development of driving support systems. She highlighted the balance needed between the benefits of AI and the need for data, emphasising that diverse data improves algorithms for applications like safe driving and medical cures. She believes transferable data and speed of adoption are transformative. Ödgärd also pointed to the importance of internal efficiency and natural product differentiation.

Christian stresses the need to develop other areas beyond core technology, focusing on building better infrastructure, strengthening brands, fostering collaboration, and developing the workforce. His vision of keeping society safe is a driving force for innovation, particularly in rapidly evolving areas like quantum computing, where the goal is to translate technology to customers faster than emerging threats.

Regulation and ethical use of AI, particularly with high integrity in geopolitics and warfare, are deemed vital. Geopolitical shifts and a more polarised world have increased the focus on security, potentially changing traditional partnerships and leading to significantly increased spending. The inability to move data between countries is seen as a restriction on product development.

The discussions final remarks emphasized that the current period presents a significant window of opportunity for reforms and development, with everyone needing to contribute to this momentum. A key factor for attracting new investments is tax levels and economic incentives, with Sweden specifically noted as lagging in this regard and needing to implement powerful incentives to attract technological research. Removing barriers in the innovation system should be a top priority everywhere. It’s also crucial to balance regulations with the value and positive force that innovation brings. Finally, there’s a desire to see Europe move more towards creating infrastructure for AI, building healthy financing for startups and research funding that is more open and flexible in terms of scope and definition.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this event and a special thank you to the speakers for an intriguing discussion and to Volvo Cars for hosting us.