Meet the people at WISE: Magnus Svensson, Director of WIRA

Magnus is an experienced program and project manager with a long history of working with strategic planning and execution to achieve long-term goals in the research and development business.

What is WIRA?
The WISE Industrial Research Arenas (WIRA) seek to identify physical places outside academia, where universities and industry can jointly explore materials science for sustainability. For example, WIRA may address issues regarding how to recover waste from certain industrial process, or how to replace a toxic substance or material in a given product, etc. The main goal is to help to connect fundamental science with the needs of industry and society regarding sustainability. In particular, WIRA prioritize developing projects that directly benefit Sweden’s competitiveness.

How will WIRA be formed?
It is a long process. During 2023, there will be a lot of dialogs with different industries to identify problems and challenges affecting these industries that can have a potentially large impact on society. WISE fellows and researchers will participate as well in these discussions to ensure that goals and boundaries are defined jointly, arising from mutual interest. It is important to stress that WIRA should not be understood as commissioned research. One requirement is that each WIRA should have at least 3 non-academic partners. By the end of 2023 it is expected that at least one WIRA is proposed to the WISE Board and activities will gradually increase 2024 and onwards.

What type of companies/industries will be targeted?
We strive for a balance between large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises to be able to drive new ideas faster and increase the competitiveness of Sweden on materials science.

How does WIRA contribute to accomplishing the goals of WISE?
WISE’s main goal is to use material science to reach a sustainable future. WIRA will establish environments in which industrial and societal problems and challenges related to sustainable materials and technologies can be addressed by researchers from universities and industry together. In this way, need-driven research, for example new green technologies to store energy, has the possibility to reach society much faster.