In 2019, the first evaluation of Visual Sweden was carried out and in September this year it was time for the second one. Now the announcement has come from Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova – Visual Sweden is commendably receiving continued funding.

It was on September 15-16 that Visual Sweden had the opportunity to welcome an international jury and representatives from Vinnova in what was the initiative’s second evaluation since its start in 2016. A large number of interviews were conducted with various participants from Visual Sweden, including the process management and the board. Of course, there were discussions about the activities of the last three years, but a lot of effort was also put into the coming years, which is the final stage of Vinnväxt funding.

– It is very gratifying that we have now been given the trust to drive all the way to the finish line, but it is important to add that the funding aims to establish a permanent organization that will continue to develop beyond the ten years, says Anders Carlsson, process manager for Visual Sweden.

The decision on continued funding has been made by Vinnova’s CEO Darja Isaksson. That the authority has great confidence in the continuation of Visual Sweden can be seen not least by the points listed based on the evaluation. Here are some of them:

  • Visual Sweden has created a common strong identity and a structure to drive the strategic and operational activities. This has led to maintaining and expanding the member base, which shows that the actors see the support and stimulating activities that Visual Sweden provides as meaningful and relevant. It is clear that since the beginning Visual Sweden has increased its ability to meet the needs of the industry.
  • Visual Sweden has also established itself as a clear national and international actor.
  • Visual Sweden has created an impressive innovation momentum in visualization, computer vision and image analysis in the region, which includes a high percentage of committed companies within a large number of projects and events. Not least, the international assessors point out that Visual Sweden has a prominent position in Europe despite its comparatively smaller size than many other environments. The initiative has succeeded well in connecting several very strong scientific environments that are recognized and respected globally to innovation processes in business and the public sector.
  • Visual Sweden has very well contributed to the building of and has become an important part of a well-functioning ecosystem for innovation and growth, and the initiative is central as an implementation force in the regional smart specialization strategy.

– This is proof of the region’s strength in the area and that we have done and are doing the right things, which bodes well for the next three years and the continuation after these, Anders Carlsson concludes.

Contact:

Anders Carlsson, process manager Visual Sweden
0705-388908
anders.carlsson@liu.se

Visual Sweden is an initiative based in Östergötland, aimed at promoting innovation and regional growth in the field of visualization and image analysis. No other region in Sweden has the collection of actors in visualization and image analysis that can be found here. The majority are companies that develop new solutions in the field. Central actors are Region Östergötland, Linköping Municipality, Norrköping Municipality, Linköping University, a number of state institutions such as SMHI, NFC and FOI as well as around 100 small, medium and large companies.