{"id":175,"date":"2025-10-06T18:31:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/?p=175"},"modified":"2025-10-06T18:34:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:34:49","slug":"beyond-the-headlines-remembering-the-whole-of-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/2025\/10\/beyond-the-headlines-remembering-the-whole-of-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Headlines: Remembering the Whole of Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, Sweden has made some of its most ambitious and forward-looking research investments to date. The Wallenberg Foundations have committed more than SEK 5 billion to long-term programmes in\u00a0artificial intelligence, quantum technology, life sciences, and renewable materials.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the same time, the Swedish government\u2019s Budget Proposition for 2026 and the forthcoming Research and Innovation Bill (2025\u20132030) continue to prioritise research that drives the green transition, AI, quantum technologies, life sciences, and more. Across Europe, the Horizon Europe missions channel major funding toward similar grand challenges (AI, health, energy, and sustainability).<\/p>\n

These investments matter.<\/strong> They enable groundbreaking research, attract international talent, and connect academia more closely with society\u2019s needs. They also show confidence in science\u2019s power to address global challenges,\u00a0a confidence that is essential and worth celebrating.<\/p>\n

Yet amid this momentum, I find myself returning to a question that may not fit neatly into policy frameworks but deserves to be asked:<\/p>\n

Are we focusing too much on the visible outcomes \u2014 and too little on the invisible foundations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

And are we overlooking other parts of STEM that, while less directly tied to current strategic themes, remain essential to the long-term strength of science and engineering?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behind every major technological advance lies decades of foundational work in mathematics, physics, and other basic sciences that form the conceptual and methodological infrastructure of innovation. At the same time, the broader landscape of STEM fields provides the continuity, diversity, and resilience that sustain our research ecosystem. If we concentrate too narrowly on a limited set of highly visible priorities, we risk reducing the breadth of scientific inquiry that enables unforeseen breakthroughs in the future.<\/p>\n

Mission-oriented programmes and strategic initiatives are crucial, and they have changed Swedish research for the better. But as the focus on short-term relevance and measurable outcomes grows, there is a need to ensure that less visible areas of STEM, those not directly aligned with today\u2019s dominant agendas, continue to receive attention and renewal. Sustainable innovation depends not only on its peaks of excellence but also on the quiet continuity of the disciplines that connect and underpin them.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0KTH<\/strong>, and across Sweden\u2019s technical universities, we see how interdependent these layers of science truly are. Our leadership in applied and emerging fields depends on maintaining depth and vitality across the full STEM spectrum.<\/p>\n

To innovate responsibly, we must nurture both the\u00a0vision to apply<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0patience to understand<\/strong>. As Sweden prepares its next\u00a0Research and Innovation Bill, this balance deserves renewed reflection!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent years, Sweden has made some of its most ambitious and forward-looking research investments to date. The Wallenberg Foundations have committed more than SEK 5 billion to long-term programmes in\u00a0artificial intelligence, quantum technology, life sciences, and renewable materials. At the same time, the Swedish government\u2019s Budget Proposition for 2026 and the forthcoming Research and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1513,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/sandra-di-rocco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}