Annual Report 2009 - IVA

iva's president björn o. nilsson:
The world's
most modern academy
IVA has a unique role in Swedish society with its close ties to both enterprise
and science, spheres that are otherwise separated by attitudes and traditions.
What could be better than working to promote enterprise and doing it with
a scientific approach? For IVA there has never been any opposition between
practical enterprise and science. Our academy is all about using a scientific
approach, mainly within engineering and economics, as a basis for developing
society. In my eyes, we are the world's most modern academy.
When the term engineering sciences began
to be used almost a hundred years ago,
it was very controversial. engineers had a
practical, concrete profession; one that was
not considered particularly scientific at the
time. But for ivA there has never been any
opposition between practical enterprise
and science. A scientific approach is a philosophy
not a belief system. Today we see
many examples of a scientific approach
being questioned, both in the evolution
issue and in many medical or technology
contexts. credibility is further undermined
through the use of what is usually known
as pseudoscience; an opinion or a product
is marketed by intentionally characterising
it as scientific to mislead the public. People
in white coats at the "institute for skin Research"
talk about the miracles of a new
skin cream. in the end we all lose when
scientific credibility is undermined.
ivA's unique role is that we can gather
forces in society with the scientific criteria
of safety and openness. We can hold debates
on controversial topics as long as they
are based on scientific terms. science is not
only about knowing, it is also about questioning.
if we want to know if the hunns
are on the way, we have to investigate it.
And preferably in several different ways.
it is meaningless to build up a defence on
any other basis than real knowledge of how
many hunns are on the way. Today people
can improve their credibility in many contexts
by pointing out that they are not
scientists. in my eyes this is a deeply troubling
trend.
Big corporations are no longer growing
in sweden. most people agree that smaller
companies need to grow if sweden is to
achieve economic growth. We have numerous
small businesses that are doing very
well today, but they are not growing as
they should either. This is partly related to
whether or not entrepreneurs and financiers
can get paid for taking risks. These days
sweden is alone, for example, in having no
tax incentives to stimulate research within
small and medium-sized enterprises. We
also need to find ways in which to change
people's attitudes towards risk-taking.
Amended bankruptcy legislation is one example.
in the united states, having a couple
of bankruptcies in your past is considered a
qualification. it means you are a person with
entrepreneurial experience. With the right
amendments we could get close to that
attitude in our country.
ivA's Innovation for Growth project is
carefully studying the reality that exists in
sweden. Which parts of our innovation
system do not work? What good examples
are there? The work carried out by the
globalisation council – an ivA proposal
4
that the government took on board three
years ago – has laid a solid foundation of
knowledge for the project. There are plenty
of things that work very well in sweden; we
have nothing to be ashamed of. We should
not try to import the perfect innovation
system from somewhere else. We should
instead build on the advantages we have,
such as short decision paths and high quality
in many knowledge areas. in twenty years,
sweden will host the harvard Business
school and tell them how we created the
new "swedish miracle" through innovation!
Innovation for Growth is a transparent
project and its results and proposals will be
presented on a continuous basis. The project
will not result in a concluding report, but will
generate several concrete proposals – the
first one as soon as 2010.
so, in answer to my opening question:
nothing could be better. in my eyes, ivA
is the world's most modern scientific academy.
We are gathering many different players
in swedish society to create concrete
proposals for the best innovation system in
the world. on scientific foundations.
Professor Björn o. nilsson
President of the Academy