DOI: 10.1002/anie.201208608 Chemistry in Sweden—A Midsummer Nights Dream? Christina Moberg* In 1787, in the small village of Ytterby, situated northeast of Stockholm, the young chemist Carl Axel Arrhenius unearthed a black mineral, which he named Ytterbite. From this and other minerals collected from the same spot, nine new elements were isolated. They were named after the village and its surroundings: yttrium, ytterbium, terbi- um, erbium, holmium (from the Latin name of Stockholm), scandium, thulium (from the Latin name of Scandinavia), gadolinium, and tantalum. Some years later, the Swedish chemist Jçns Jacob Berzelius discovered several additional elements: silicon, selenium, cerium, and thorium. Furthermore, he assigned sym- bols, which we use still today, to all the elements. T o what extent have later generations of Swedish chemists been able to live up to this proud heritage ? What is the state of Swedish and Scandinavian research to- day? About 1.8 % of the worlds scien- tific papers are produced in Scandinavia, 7 % of which are assigned to the field of chemistry. Citations in the field of chemistry are above world average for Sweden and Denmark and just below world average for Norway, but although for Norway the number of citations is increasing, for Sweden and Denmark there is a slight decline (according to the research organization NordForsk). Den- mark has the highest portion of most- cited papers among the Scandinavian countries. For both Denmark and Swe- den, the most-cited papers are in the field of chemistry. The total number of ERC advanced grants awarded to Scan- dinavian scientists is 87 (7.9 % of the total), and that of starting grants is 126 (6.3 % of the total). Recognizing that the number of scien- tific publications and that of citations are poor indicators of scientific quality and originality, several universities un- dertake Research Assessment Exercises at regular intervals. During these eval- uations, panels of international experts make site visits and appraise the quality of the research activities at the partic- ular institution. The results of such assessments are often used for prioritiz- ing the internal distribution of resources. From an international perspective, Swedens research expenditure is high at 3.4 % of the gross domestic product (GDP), compared to the average of 3.0 % within the OECD countries. How- ever, merely 24 % of the funding in Sweden comes from the government. Therefore, the closure of major indus- trial research sites, as recently that of AstraZeneca in Sçdertälje, will have a notable effect on the total funding. In Norway, only 1.64 % of GDP is spent on research. However, as much as 45 % of research funding comes from the gov- ernment, which thus spends about the same fraction of the GDP on research as Sweden. Private foundations, such as the Swedish Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation, are also instrumental for providing expensive equipment, as well as support for larger projects. The high expenditures for research should be viewed in relation to the relatively high costs of research in Sweden. Akademiska Hus, which is a state-owned property company, owns more than 70 % of the university build- ings in Sweden. The company generates a profit, from which an amount corre- sponding to more than 25 % of the research budget of the Swedish Re- search Council goes back to the state. Universities typically spend around 15 % of their total budgets on rent for premises—these costs are of course particularly high for subjects that re- quire laboratory space. Furthermore, graduate students often have full salar- ies and in many departments, costs for graduate student salaries exceed those for the faculty. In autumn 2012, the Swedish govern- ment launched a bill that, after a period of four years, will result in a research budget amounting to 4  10 9 Euros, as compared to the present amount of 3.5  10 9 Euros. Life sciences will enjoy a par- ticularly substantial increase in funding. One-third of the investments in the life sciences will be directed to the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab), which is a national scientific center for large- scale biosciences and bioinformatics, with a focus on health and environ- mental research, driven by the Karolin- ska Institute, Stockholm University, Uppsala University, and KTH. Another national facility that will enjoy increased funding is the synchrotron light source facility at the MAX labo- ratories, located in Lund. Three storage rings are in operation, the first of which Merely 24 % of the funding in Sweden comes from the government [*] Prof. C. Moberg Department of Chemistry Organic Chemistry Kungliga Tekniska hçgskolan (KTH) 10044 Stockholm (Sweden) E-mail: kimo@kth.se . Angewandte Editorial 1844  2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 1844 – 1845