AI Sweden, the Swedish national center for applied artificial intelligence, receives almost SEK 47 million from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth to accelerate the use of AI in Swedish innovation environments and companies. The project will help to advance the use of AI in Swedish companies through broad knowledge dissemination, national collaborations, training of innovation support actors and direct support to small and medium-sized enterprises.
The project “Increased national collaboration for accelerated use of AI in all industries” has been awarded SEK 46,749,081 from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and the National Regional Fund Program. The project, which will run until 2028, aims to strengthen the digital transformation of companies for increased productivity and efficiency of business.
Helping small and medium-sized enterprises in their digital transformation is crucial to strengthening Sweden's competitiveness and attracting talent. Within the project, we will also support innovation-promoting actors who play an important role in driving innovation and entrepreneurship.
Astrid Sjögren
Project Manager for SMEs at AI Sweden
The project will enable a stronger regional presence for AI Sweden in Luleå, Skåne and Växjö, which will also have positive effects on national collaborations. Within the project, AI Sweden will, among other things, package and disseminate knowledge about AI use, train innovation actors and facilitate shorter student projects to enable small and medium-sized companies to get started with concrete AI projects.
This type of support is in line with the proposals in the AI Commission's final report highlighting skills enhancement as an important need. To accelerate the application of AI, we need collaboration and a significant increase in skills. This applies within organizations, across sectors, and at regional and national levels. The funding from the Regional Fund and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth is an important support in this work.
Johanna Bergman
Head of Strategic Initiatives at AI Sweden
The funding is being given to AI Sweden and Lindholmen Science Park together with Innovation Skåne, LTU Business and Växjö Linnaeus Science Park.
The Regional Fund, or European Regional Development Fund as it is actually called, finances projects in areas such as green transition, digitization, entrepreneurship, skills, research and access to broadband. The aim is sustainable regional development and employment throughout the country.