2025-06-24: Chalmers’ participation in Almedalen brings benefits all year round. With party leader speeches, panel debates, roundtable discussions, networking events, and seminars, what has sometimes been described as an old-time marketplace for politics and ideas – Almedalen Week – is now underway.
Call it what you will. More than anything, Almedalen is a meeting place – a setting where many individuals in decision-making positions and a broad range of experts from various fields gather in a geographically compact area. For those wishing to seize the opportunity to bring some of these people together around the same table, Almedalen often offers the best chance of the year.
Chalmers takes that opportunity. We have important perspectives to share with these individuals. We want to present our views, but equally important is to listen. At a time when geopolitics demands cutting-edge domestic technical expertise, and when the competitiveness of Sweden and Europe hinges on our performance in the global technology race, the role of the technical university becomes more crucial than ever.
We are – and should be – a societal actor, working in collaboration with others. We are no isolated island, but strive to continuously contribute to a better society. This means participating in a shared conversation about what that actually entails and the conditions it requires.
Several ongoing collaborations have their roots in discussions held during last year’s Almedalen Week.
This year, we are especially keen to demonstrate how we, as a technical university, can generate particularly strong societal benefit through close collaboration with a university hospital – and therefore, we are hosting a seminar on deepened cooperation with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, supported by the Faculty of Science and Engineering and the Sahlgrenska Academy, both at the University of Gothenburg.
We are also organising two seminars – one on AI and one on quantum technology – in collaboration with KTH, our most important ally in explaining how conditions for technical universities in Sweden can be improved. Together, we are responsible for a significant portion of Sweden’s engineering education and scientific/technical research, and we often are affected by the same advantages and disadvantages of the Swedish research funding system. That makes it both logical and important for us to stand side by side on certain issues – especially for Sweden’s benefit.
At Almedalen, Chalmers will also launch an updated concept for commissioned education: the Chalmers Upskilling Academy. This is a direct response to the need for transformation in industry, and any success here also constitutes a direct improvement to Swedish competitiveness.
Myself, along with other Chalmers representatives, will of course participate in many conversations with other stakeholders – often about competitiveness, but also about energy issues, research commercialisation, equality, life sciences, and much more.
If you’re in Visby, you are naturally very welcome to attend Chalmers’ events. If you’re interested but located elsewhere, you can instead follow our seminars online via the streaming link.
Martin Nilsson Jacobi, President and CEO of Chalmers University of Technology
Under the headline "President’s perspective" the President and CEO for Chalmers University of Technology, shares his reflections on current topics that concern education, research and utilisation.