European steel research
The Swedish steel industry participates in the research projects that are financed by the European Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS). The fund was established in 2003 and is administered by the Commission. Annually, about SEK 400 million is allocated for steel research at companies, institutes and universities in Sweden.
Normally, the RFCS grant comprises 60% of a project’s total budget. Other cash funding is the responsibility of the participants, so-called partners, by way of e.g. the membership programmes of institutes, corporate contributions and state sources of research funding. Most frequently, there is participation by partners from several European nations. A condition for granting the application is a strong industrial interest.
The fund’s capital comprises outstanding funds of about 1.6 billion Euros in the former ECSC fund (European Coal and Steel Community, 1952-2002) that was based on annual payments from the European steel industry. It is worth pointing out, therefore, that the RFCS fund does not comprise money from taxation unlike the EU’s Framework Programme.
Sweden’s steel industry also participates to a degree in projects financed within the EU’s Framework Programme.
Four million Euros to Sweden in 2010
Swedish institutes, universities and companies achieved a large allocation in 2010. Fourteen projects with Swedish participation were granted funds for a value of EUR 4 million. The two research institutes Swerea KIMAB and Swerea MEFOS were granted just over EUR 2 million, Luleå University of Technology got EUR 550,000 and the Swedish steel companies got EUR 650,000. In total the European steel research was granted EUR 45 million in 2010.
Guidance
Project applications are valued by independent evaluators from the member countries. These may represent steel companies, institutes or universities. An advisory group for steel, Steel Advisory Group (SAG), comprising representatives from member countries, assists the Commission with selection, prioritisation of research areas and regulations etc. Sweden is represented by Olle Wijk, head of R&D at Sandvik Materials Technology. Current projects are reviewed and evaluated on an ongoing basis through nine technical committees (TGS). Sweden has representatives on eight of these.
Successful participation since 1995
Since Sweden became a member of the EU, project applications with Swedish participation have been very successful. During the period 1995-2009 Swedish participants have been granted just over SEK 490 million in grants from the two funds (ECSC and RFCS). When Swedish co-financing is included, the Swedish project volume thereby ascends to approx. SEK 820 million. In fact, Sweden is amongst the most successful countries and the funding allocation is considerably higher than the size of Swedish steel productions presupposes.
During the RFCS period 2003-2009, projects to a total value of about 490 million Euros have been granted, of which the RFCS grants amount to SEK 290 million Euros. All in all, no less than 112 projects have been granted to Swedish partners. The allocation amount to Swedish partners is just over SEK 300 million – or almost SEK 500 million if Swedish co-financing is included. If the grants to other participants are included then the total project volume for projects with Swedish participation is SEK 2 billion, of which RFCS accounts for SEK 1.2 billion.
