This meta-evaluation included an analysis of evaluations of six competence centres co-funded by the Swedish Energy Agency. The analysis is enriched by a recent impact analysis of Swedish competence centres, and also included comparisons with similar initiatives from other Swedish research funders.

The Swedish Competence Centres Programme is part of an international movement dating back to the 1980’s. The motive behind the launch of the first Swedish competence centres in 1994 was a lack of strong incentives for Swedish researchers to interact with the rest of society, including industry. There was a need for new ways of organizing collaborative research between universities and industry.

The early competence centres showed effects of mainly four types: human capital, innovation effects, economic effects and effects on universities. The present evaluations of six competence centres confirm the picture. The competence centres give rise to a number of concrete results, and large long-term economic impact to participating companies.

Five out of the six evaluated competence centres have existed for a long time, which means that the results and effects observed in the individual evaluations should not be seen as a direct and isolated result of the last programming period. Previous evaluations and impact analyses show that it takes time for the results and impact of R & D projects to occur, and thus become observable. The picture that emerges from these six centres is in line with these observations: the centres generate long-term relationships and links between industrial and academic research.

The report is in Swedish with an English summary.

Tomas Åström
Associate Consultant

AnnaKarin Swenning