Forskningsfinansiering - kvalitet och relevans, SOU ... - Regeringen

Summary SOU 2008:30
responsibilities between the agencies is appropriate. The inquiry
sees many opportunities for improvements, which, when taken
together, would enhance quality in a number of research areas and
increase the possibilities of applying the research. This applies to
education science, where the present structure with a Committee
for Education Science at the National Research Council is assessed
as not being sustainable in the long term. The Inquiry is of the
opinion that the funding of education science can draw inspiration
from the working forms used by FAS, where a varied set of
funding instruments has helped to increase quality but has also
developed the interaction between research and practice.
At present research on working life is handled by both FAS and
the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems. The division of roles
and working areas that formed the basis of this dual responsibility
has not turned out to be fruitful. A unified organisational form is
therefore called for.
The social science parts of transport research, which mainly
concern communications and accessibility, as well as the planning
of public transport have had difficulty in finding a natural place in
the focus of Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems on the
development of innovation systems. This research should also be
able to develop better in another context.
Other areas that are in need fresh organisational solutions are
building research and research on spatial planning, which have not
been given adequate conditions for their development in Formas.
The Inquiry was also faced with the question of whether the
Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems should incorporate
further areas in its activities. Here the Inquiry proposes enabling
the agency to work on needs-driven action and action to enhance
innovation systems in all the areas. This also includes needs related
to clinical research.
This final observation leads on to the Inquiry’s main proposals.
The present system can be made more efficient and better suited to
its purpose by making a new body responsible for certain tasks and
by every agency reinforcing its strategic planning and being more
active in the selection of funding instruments. At the same time,
there is still a need for better coordination. Generally speaking, the
Inquiry has sought but not found explicit ambitions among
research funders to create a more unified structure of calls for
proposals to meet the needs in the whole of the value chain, from
basic research to applications in various sectors. Nor does the
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