Six government focus areas

To secure future competitiveness and welfare, Sweden needs to translate research and technological development into practical use much faster than it does today. We cannot rely on a traditional, linear model where research is conducted first and the results are only then passed on to development and application.

Instead, cutting-edge research, technology development, and practical implementation must happen in parallel. This requires long-term commitments that bring together AI expertise, domain knowledge, data, and compute power directly within the organizations solving these problems.

The next government should establish long-term, large-scale programs for applied AI innovation in both the private and public sectors. We must empower the best leaders in various fields to take charge while sharing their knowledge and capabilities. In doing so, we can jointly develop, test, and deploy AI solutions in strategically important areas.

Sweden relies on a global value chain that includes energy, data, compute power, cloud services, AI models, talent, and digital infrastructure. As a small country, Sweden cannot—and should not—try to build all these components independently. However, Sweden must understand its dependencies and be ready to act when access, terms, or geopolitical conditions shift.

The goal is not complete self-sufficiency, but a well-designed combination of domestic capabilities and close collaboration with trusted international partners. Sweden needs sufficient technical, legal, and organizational expertise to evaluate, adapt, and—if necessary—replace critical technological components.

The next government should map Sweden’s strategic dependencies across the entire AI value chain and prioritize investments in components critical to our national security, innovation capacity, and competitiveness. This effort should be paired with deeper strategic partnerships within the Nordic region, the EU, and with other trusted partner nations.

Ultimately, Sweden’s AI capabilities depend on people. That is why AI literacy must become a clearer priority throughout the entire education system—from primary and secondary schools to higher education, vocational training, and professional development.

Students and teachers need better support in understanding how to use AI responsibly. Universities and colleges must integrate AI into programs beyond purely technical disciplines. At the same time, Sweden needs to become more attractive to international researchers, specialists, and entrepreneurs.

The next government should ensure that AI literacy is integrated across the education system, including in national curricula, degree requirements, and professional education programs. Relevant government agencies should receive explicit mandates to develop resources for teaching both about and with AI. The government should also establish a competitive national talent package to attract and retain top international expertise.

AI is already altering job tasks, workflows, and skill requirements. These developments will affect different occupations, industries, and demographics in distinct ways. Sweden must therefore empower individuals to continuously develop their skills as work evolves—rather than waiting until an urgent need for reskilling arises.

Workplace learning must increasingly become a continuous, integral part of day-to-day employment. However, today’s education and retraining systems are largely structured around reactive, longer-term programs. Given how fast technology is advancing, there is a growing need for shorter, modular, and job-aligned training programs that can be combined with employment to meet the immediate needs of both individuals and employers.

Sweden has strong frameworks for career transitions and lifelong learning. Yet the ability to invest early and continuously in skill development remains unequal across the labor market. There are compelling reasons for the government to create financial incentives that encourage employers to invest in workforce skills—especially in sectors where time, resources, and learning infrastructures are weaker.

The next government should review options to strengthen financial incentives for early and systematic employer investments in skills. Existing frameworks, such as the transition study support system (in Swedish, “omställningsstudiestöd”), should be further developed to better accommodate shorter, modular, and job-aligned training. Sweden must also build stronger national capabilities to monitor how AI impacts job tasks, skill requirements, and labor demand.

AI can improve public services, elevate quality, and make social welfare more accessible. The technology can also free up valuable time for workers in healthcare, education, social services, and other public domains. However, individual municipalities, regions, and agencies often struggle to single-handedly bear the costs and risks of development, legal review, and implementation.

Stronger national structures are needed to jointly develop, evaluate, and scale solutions in high-priority sectors where the technology can deliver major societal benefits. The government must also eliminate legal and organizational barriers that hamper responsible AI adoption, without compromising legal certainty, privacy, or security.

The next government should commit long-term funding toward the collaborative development and scaling of AI solutions in priority sectors. This can be achieved by investing in dedicated application centers focused on scaling and broadly deploying solutions that have already proven effective.

AI issues do not fit neatly into the traditional divisions of government ministries or the Government Offices. They cut across multiple sectors at once, affecting business policy, education, the labor market, healthcare, energy, security, taxation, and public administration. This creates a risk that critical issues will be handled in isolation and that decision-making will fail to keep pace with technological progress.

Sweden therefore needs a stronger central capacity to gather insight, analyze impacts, and drive policy development across ministry and sector boundaries. This work must be long-term, yet iterative and adaptable as technology and global conditions evolve.

The next government should establish a permanent central AI unit within the Government Offices, anchored near the Prime Minister's leadership. This unit should be empowered to coordinate national AI policy, monitor technological advancements, conduct scenario analyses, and ensure that identified priorities are translated into concrete decisions, investments, and follow-ups.

AI Sweden Public policy team