Swedish innovations highlighted in the EU’s new innovation system

Caption: Eva Blixt, Jernkontoret, Jill Sundberg, Swerim, and Tova Jarnerud Örell, Swerim.

As the EU connects innovation and environmental regulation through the INCITE initiative, early and active engagement by national actors is becoming increasingly important. The research project Impact INCITE has therefore focused on strengthening Sweden’s position and increasing the visibility and impact of Swedish technical solutions in future EU regulation.

The research project Impact INCITE has focused on the work linked to the EU’s new innovation centre INCITE, with a particular focus on the iron and steel sector, the first industrial sector to be covered by the initiative. A central part of the project was to explore how work with INCITE can be carried out effectively and how relevant Swedish actors can be reached in order to build engagement and highlight Swedish innovations and technologies. The aim was to increase the likelihood that these solutions are considered and included in upcoming legislation linked to the Industrial Emissions Directive, IED 2.0.

This challenge is particularly important because INCITE represents a new way of connecting technological development and environmental requirements within the EU.

“Without early and active participation, there is a risk that Sweden loses both influence and visibility, and thereby the opportunity to gain recognition for innovative technologies that are essential for industrial transformation and competitiveness. Since Sweden is at the forefront of innovation and sustainability, it is important that this is also reflected in EU legislative processes,” say Jill Sundberg and Tova Jarnerud Örell, researchers at Swerim and project managers for Impact INCITE.

The main objective of the project was to ensure that Swedish innovations and perspectives reach INCITE. This was done by disseminating information and increasing knowledge about INCITE among relevant Swedish actors in the iron and steel sector. An additional purpose was to identify and understand the challenges involved in the work and to develop approaches that can serve as practical guidance for other industrial sectors.

The work encountered several challenges. One was the difficulty of identifying and mapping relevant innovative technologies suitable for registration on the INCITE platform.

“Many technologies are developed outside publicly funded research projects, and even when they are part of such projects, the information is often difficult to find and requires a great deal of manual work,” says Jill Sundberg.

Initially, extensive manual reviews of project lists from Swedish and European research funders were carried out, but this proved to be highly time- and resource-intensive. The project therefore chose instead to work more broadly with information dissemination in order to reach the right actors.

Another challenge was finding effective ways to communicate the value of INCITE. This was addressed through a combination of targeted communication, personal contacts, national workshops, collaboration with industry organisations and close dialogue with both the INCITE team and relevant authorities. Many actors initially expressed uncertainty about why INCITE was relevant to them and what value registration could provide. When the link to legislation and the potential benefits became clearer, engagement also increased.

Collaboration within the project consortium worked very well and became an important success factor. The consortium consisted of representatives from industry, technology providers, academia, research institutes and industry organisations, as well as people with different functions within their organisations. This created broad perspectives and facilitated knowledge exchange and effective coordination.

The project resulted in several concrete outcomes. Sweden achieved very strong representation at INCITE’s first sector workshop for the iron and steel industry, Swedish technologies were registered on the INCITE platform and are being prepared for inclusion in the TRIT report in 2026. In addition, national workshops, bilateral meetings, an international flagship event and First-Of-A-Kind visits were arranged to showcase Swedish pioneering facilities in practice.

“These results have helped strengthen Sweden’s visibility, increase knowledge of the INCITE process and improve coordination between different actors. They have also laid the foundation for long-term influence and shown how INCITE work can be carried out in practice, which will also be valuable for other sectors going forward,” says Tova Jarnerud Örell.

During the project, unexpected insights also emerged regarding how much impact national engagement can actually have. The project did not limit itself to following the development of INCITE, but actively participated in dialogues, workshops and collaborative forums together with both the INCITE team and the European Commission. It became clear that the contact points were open and accessible, enabling close and continuous exchange. The project’s analyses, conclusions and concrete proposals contributed significantly to the development of INCITE’s working methods and regulatory framework and had a clear impact on the continued development work.

This shows that active and structured participation not only provides insight, but also real opportunities to influence EU processes and future legislation. At the same time, it was surprising that interest among technology providers in registering their technologies on the INCITE platform was relatively low, despite the fact that this can create clear business opportunities for companies. Registration not only increases international visibility, but also improves opportunities to reach new markets, build partnerships and position solutions ahead of future regulation, which in the long term can lead to increased demand and commercialisation.

Following the completion of the project, the results live on through increased Swedish engagement and greater visibility within INCITE, giving Sweden influence in the continued work towards new legislation. The experiences have been compiled in a report that was launched at an international event with more than 100 participants from 12 different countries, demonstrating the broad interest in the project’s results.

The report can also serve as inspiration and guidance for other sectors. One important recommendation is to establish a long-term national node to maintain momentum and enable continued collaboration. The next step is to broaden the work to more sectors beyond the iron and steel industry, continue registering technologies on the INCITE platform, actively participate in upcoming workshops and strengthen the link to Swedish innovation and research policy.

 

Project partners:
Swerim AB
Lunds universitet
Teknikföretagen
Jernkontoret
Kanthal
LKAB
SSAB