Appropriations increased in several areas of expenditure

According to Statistics Sweden’s statistics, government funding of R&D is expected to increase by SEK 0.8 billion in current prices in 2018 compared with 2017. The areas of expenditure in the central government budget that are responsible for this increase are education and academic research, defence and contingency measures, the judicial system, international development cooperation, and industry and trade. In the 2017 forecast, expenditures of barely SEK 1 billion for the development of new IT systems was regarded as R&D by one particular government agency. In 2018, this agency no longer regarded this activity as R&D, which resulted in a weaker-looking development than if the same assessment had been made in the previous year.

Half of all R&D funds are allocated to higher education

In the central government budget, R&D appropriations are grouped by recipient. According to Statistics Sweden’s forecast, 49 percent of R&D appropriations in the central government budget go to institutes of higher education. Twenty-nine percent of the funds go to research-funding government agencies, 18 percent go to public administration, while defence agencies are expected to receive four percent of the total R&D budget. Government funding of R&D is expected to increase among all recipients, except public administration agencies, whose funding will decrease by SEK 550 million, as well as the Swedish Research Council Formas, for which funding will decrease by SEK 80 million in 2018. The decrease of R&D funding of public administration agencies is due to the new assessment that the development of IT systems of a single agency should not be classified as an R&D activity.

Most funding to the general advancement of knowledge in medical and health sciences

R&D funding is grouped by the objectives of the R&D. General advancement of knowledge is the single largest objective and accounts for 70 percent of R&D funding in the central government budget. It is expected to increase by over SEK 1.1 billion compared with last year. Universities, institutes of higher education and the Swedish Research Council are the main recipients of funding for this purpose. General scientific development is divided into six research areas according to the 2011 Swedish Standard Classification of Research Subjects, in which the area of medical and health sciences accounts for the largest share.