TechSweden's Almedalen Agenda 2025: Ten proposals to strengthen Sweden as a tech country

- Create the right market conditions for tech companies to grow and develop in Sweden, through a good investment climate, access to talent and regulatory simplification.
- Translate the goals of the government's digitalization strategy into concrete action. Give each minister a digitalization assignment and form a modern digitalization authority with the task of promoting development.
- Stimulate development by ensuring that public sector organizations use commercial solutions as a first option and design procurements that get the best out of the market.

The tech industry is a pillar of the Swedish economy, with a turnover of over SEK 1 100 billion in 2023 and contributing around SEK 350 billion to GDP - more than traditional basic industry. For Sweden to remain strong and create growth, jobs and welfare in an increasingly fierce global competition, we need to take decisive action and create the right conditions. The digitization strategy recently presented by the government must be translated into concrete action - each minister should have a clear digitization mission. Sweden also needs a new, modern and driving digitalization authority with the power to coordinate and drive development forward. At the same time, cooperation between the public and private sectors must be strengthened - only through joint efforts can we build functioning markets, strengthen innovation and create a competitive and sustainable digital economy.

- Ensure the quality and relevance of higher education programs and increase the match with the labor market needs for tech specialists.
- Attract more girls to tech education and provide better support to students to reduce drop-outs.
- Strengthen the conditions for lifelong learning and skills development.
- Develop a national talent strategy and cut red tape around labor immigration.
- Ensure that digitalization permeates the knowledge content of the entire school system.

To maintain and strengthen Sweden's competitiveness, it is crucial that we invest in digital excellence. The digital transition and AI development are increasing the demand for tech skills across the board, not just in the tech industry, which places high demands on increasing the supply of skills. Swedish companies compete in a global market and other countries such as India, South Korea, Japan, the United States and Canada are training millions of tech specialists. Sweden needs higher education programs that better match the needs of the labor market and attract more people, including girls, to IT education. At the same time, drop-out rates must be reduced. AI, digitalisation, and security need to be integrated into existing and new courses, and we need to create the conditions for continuous learning through, among other things, skills deductions for companies. In the digital transition, Sweden must also work long-term with skills supply. Important areas such as programming, computer science, algorithms, cybersecurity, digital source criticism and AI should be included in school curricula. Digital literacy is a fundamental skill and a prerequisite both for further tech studies and for living in a world where digitalization is an integral part of society.

- Position Sweden as a leading 5G/6G nation and promote public-private cooperation in socially useful services such as health care, emergency services, defense, transport and more.
- Provide the Swedish Competition Authority with tools and resources to address unhealthy competition from public actors that crowds out investments and services from private actors.
- Avoid unreasonably high network fees from property owners that hinder residents' digitization.
- Develop government broadband support so that it can be used for both fixed and mobile networks to reach more businesses and households, especially in rural areas.

Swedish digitization policy has had a strong focus on network expansion, and today almost 100 percent of all households and businesses have a theoretical possibility to connect through either fiber networks, mobile networks or satellite. However, the proportion that have actually connected and are realizing the potential of the networks is significantly lower. By extension, this affects the digitization of the whole of society and the possibility for, for example, health and care to switch to digital solutions. We need to shift the focus from networks to benefits and from theoretical connectivity to actual access to the digital society. This requires measures to increase the use of networks, such as promoting public-private cooperation in socially beneficial services, but also a better investment climate by reducing the regulatory burden on the industry and addressing unhealthy competition from public actors that crowds out private investment. To reach 100%, government broadband support also needs to be developed so that it can be used for both fixed and mobile networks.

- Increase public R&D investment to 1.2% and total investment to 5%.
- Reduce regulatory burden and red tape by making it easy for entrepreneurs to do the right thing.
- Strengthen the supply of capital by creating an attractive investment environment with strong links between academia and business and by encouraging employee ownership with competitive taxation.

Entrepreneurship is the engine of a vibrant economy. Without new ideas, businesses and innovation, development stalls - both economically and socially. It is important to create the right conditions for an ecosystem where innovation, capital and talent work together to solve society's major challenges. Through an ambitious target - the highest number of unicorns per capita - Sweden is showing that entrepreneurship is a strategic issue for the future and a promise of creativity, investment and long-term growth.

- Establish an AI Task Force in the Government Offices to promote and accelerate the use and development of AI in both the private and public sectors - and in collaboration.
- Computing power must not become a bottleneck for AI development - facilitate the expansion of data centers through stable access to energy, faster licensing processes, etc.
- Step up efforts to increase access to free public data for AI training and applications.
- Set aside SEK 100 million annually for public education initiatives in AI.
- It should be easy to do the right thing - provide support and advice to companies to comply with the AI regulation.

It is crucial for a country like Sweden to be at the forefront of AI development. Various efforts are needed to achieve this. The Swedish administrative model has major limitations when dealing with cross-sectoral challenges. It is therefore particularly important to strengthen the coordinating and promotional work within the Government Offices by appointing an AI Task Force. Facilitate and promote the expansion of computing power for business, the public sector and academia. The open data policy must be clearer about what is expected of the authorities and create the conditions for more people to waive fees and make their data sources available. In order for Sweden to fully exploit the potential of AI, a high minimum level of basic AI skills among the Swedish population must be ensured. Both the private and public sectors need advice and support to avoid regulatory uncertainty and compliance costs when training and applying AI. Appoint an AI authority with the resources and mandate to support and promote broad AI development across society.

- Strong transition to digital first and digitally driven working methods to reward the human encounter when needed, for users, patients and relatives.
- Introduce a 3-year investment of SEK 3 billion per year - Digital Care Lift - to support the municipalities' transition, accelerate the introduction and a skills boost around welfare technology and health technology of care staff.

Social services and municipal health care are increasingly using digital solutions and welfare technology for interventions for older people and people with disabilities, but the roll-out is slow. Widespread adoption of new technologies and changes in working practices are key to realizing the benefits in productivity, quality of life and safety. Care services are under particular strain due to the demographic challenge in Sweden. With an increase in staff density on the current trend, 50% of all new entrants of working age would need to work in health and social care in 2030. A special initiative is therefore needed to create the conditions for a strong increase in the pace of introduction of welfare technology and healthtech.

- Introduce a 1-in-2-out policy for all Swedish regulatory work linked to tech in the EU and work according to the "Think Small First" principle, to ensure that regulatory compliance is simplified.
- Create a mechanism to continuously evaluate existing rules and make proposals that promote digitization and remove barriers - a digitization committee. Create a function to ensure that all new legislation is digitally adapted from the start - "digital by default".
- Making regulatory sandboxes practical and easy to use for businesses that want to develop.

In 2019-2024, 116 pieces of EU legislation directly affecting digitalization were adopted - almost two per month. The fast pace of regulation has created major challenges for tech companies that need a break to adapt to the requirements. Often, legislation has been introduced quickly without sufficient impact assessments, hampering innovation and compliance. Sweden should take the lead in vigorously simplifying tech-related regulations in the EU, without overlaps, micromanagement and requirements that inhibit investment. Let the new rules work, prioritize the introduction and the conditions for compliance with the legislation.

- Develop a policy for data centers as part of the Swedish infrastructure for business and the public sector to be efficient and competitive.
- Create the conditions for computing power and data management with world-leading sustainable data centers in Sweden through stable access to simple and fast permitting processes, electrical power, competitive energy prices and a good supply of skills.

Sweden as a country must be forward-looking when it comes to policies that enable innovation, products and services to emerge. The business sector and the public sector must have the conditions for efficient operations and thus be able to be competitive. This requires the capacity to store and manage large amounts of data, which in turn requires a policy that sees data centers as a fundamental part of the infrastructure and that stimulates investment in them. Establishing data centers requires fast decision-making processes and access to reliable electricity at competitive prices. The capacity of data centers can help achieve greater energy efficiency throughout society.

- Improve information and cyber security by addressing the skills gap.
- Create a trusting exchange of information between companies and authorities on security.
- Strengthen the opportunities for cross-border security work in the Nordic region in tech, e.g. through regulatory harmonization, joint procurement and the establishment of a development fund for defence tech.

There are significant skills needs in information and cyber security. Reducing the skills gap is one of the most important things the public sector can do to improve the level of security in society. Businesses can provide information and are often obliged to report security-related issues to authorities - often without getting anything in return. Develop better forms of mutual information exchange. Several companies own infrastructure or operate in two or more Nordic markets. Adapt national rules and the implementation of EU rules to make it easier to work in our NATO allied neighbors. Avoid special Swedish solutions. The industry can contribute with defense and security solutions: open up for defence tech with a Nordic development fund.

- Avoid general rules on working time reduction.
- Clarify that IT and tech consultancies, with mixed forms of delivery, are not covered by the Temporary Agency Work Act.
- Implement the Platform Directive in a legally secure and balanced way that does not hamper digital development.
- Modernize the Swedish labor market model so that it is even more of a competitive advantage for Swedish tech employers and contributes to investment in Sweden.

The growth of the tech industry requires a modern and flexible regulatory framework for tech employers that reflects the reality of the industry - with high specialization, international competition and rapid change. The application of the Rental Act to IT and tech consultancies and the upcoming implementation of the EU Platform Directive create uncertainty and weaken the competitive conditions in a global market. Modernized, predictable and effective rules in the Swedish labor market will strengthen companies' ability to attract investment and excellence and create competitive companies and jobs - here in Sweden. This means that there is a need to modernize and simplify the MBL, that the Leasing Act is not applied to consultancies in the industry and that general rules on working time reduction are avoided. Otherwise, the Swedish tech industry risks losing competitiveness and companies and jobs leaving Sweden.