Chemistry in Sweden has a proud heritage: after the discovery of Ytterbite in Sweden by Carl Axel Arrhenius in 1787, at least nine new elements were isolated. But does the current state of chemistry in Sweden live up to its prestigious past?

In an Editorial in Angewandte Chemie, Christina Moberg from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, outlines the state of chemistry research in Sweden today. Only 24 % of the research funding in Sweden currently comes from the government and the costs of research are high, although the Swedish government has recently pledged to increase the research budget by 1.3 billion Euros over the next four years. The government is allocating substantial funding for the promotion of excellence in innovation, although there is currently no joint research program across all the Swedish political parties. Sweden is also home to a large synchotron facility, and construction of a world-class synchotron has already started.

These measures, as well as government funding earmarked for the recruitment of outstanding scientists, are aimed at making Sweden a leading research nation.

• Chemistry in Sweden – A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
  Christina Moberg,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201208608