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The funding of Swedish microelectronics research is being reorganised. But during a transition period researchers can expect less funding for their projects. The situation has outraged the microelectronics community.
Swedish microelectronics research is in for a lean year, concludes Elektroniktidningen. The main responsibility for funding research in the area is being transferred from an independent foundation to the state-run funding agency Vinnova. However, the transition will take some time, and in the meantime resources are shrinking.
In a letter to Education Minister Thomas östros, who is also responsible for research issues, several prominent Swedish researchers, outraged by the government's irresponsible way of handling research funds, have demanded compensation for the shortfalls.
Today, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) is responsible for about 80 per cent of the funding of microelectronics research. When the SSF was originally set up in 1996, the funding agency Vinnova's forerunner Nutek cut its funds earmarked for research in the microelectronics field. Now, mainly because of the SSF being short of money, the government seems to want to give Vinnova the main responsibility for research funding in the field.
According to Sven-Ingemar Ragnarsson of Vinnova this could result in an extra windfall of SEK0.5bn ($50m) for electronics research in four or five years' time. However, Professor Lars Thylén at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm argues that although this is all very well, it is of little use to ongoing research which needs funding during next year and the year after.
"We can't handle these extreme shifts in funding. The government knows nothing about the conditions of research, doesn't co-ordinate the funding and doesn't care about the consequences of their decisions," he says.
In a letter to Education Minister Thomas östros, who is also responsible for research issues, several prominent Swedish researchers, outraged by the government's irresponsible way of handling research funds, have demanded compensation for the shortfalls.
Today, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) is responsible for about 80 per cent of the funding of microelectronics research. When the SSF was originally set up in 1996, the funding agency Vinnova's forerunner Nutek cut its funds earmarked for research in the microelectronics field. Now, mainly because of the SSF being short of money, the government seems to want to give Vinnova the main responsibility for research funding in the field.
According to Sven-Ingemar Ragnarsson of Vinnova this could result in an extra windfall of SEK0.5bn ($50m) for electronics research in four or five years' time. However, Professor Lars Thylén at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm argues that although this is all very well, it is of little use to ongoing research which needs funding during next year and the year after.
"We can't handle these extreme shifts in funding. The government knows nothing about the conditions of research, doesn't co-ordinate the funding and doesn't care about the consequences of their decisions," he says.
Gittan Cedervall
