KTH and Skanska tackle society's challenges together
Since the beginning of the year, Fredrik Johansson has been KTH's partnership manager for Skanska. The ambition is to strengthen collaboration in both education and research to maximize the benefits of the partnership. Work is now underway to identify areas where Skanska and KTH should focus their efforts.
Fredrik Johansson has taken over an existing partnership that has been in place for several years. Together with Rebecca Hollertz, partnership coordinator at the Research Support Office, he has initiated a new start. Skanska is a major employer participating in many ongoing research projects, and Fredrik Johansson sees good opportunities for collaboration.
“Currently, Skanska is very active in career fairs and thesis projects,” says Fredrik Johansson. “For example, the Skanska 21 student program targets Master of Engineering students in their fourth year of education. Skanska's construction projects also offer interesting research questions for thesis work. During the ongoing subway construction in Nacka, for instance, a thesis project has contributed studies on vault stability when tunneling in rock with partial rock cover.”
Other current Skanska projects with various technical challenges requiring engineering expertise include the Stockholm Bypass highway construction, the West Link Project in Gothenburg, and the expansion of the final repository for radioactive waste in Forsmark.
“Society faces major challenges, especially regarding sustainability. Here we can both develop new knowledge through research and educate experts for the future. Currently, several people from Skanska participate in teaching various courses. On the research side, a project is currently underway within Digital Futures, where Skanska is studying the possibility of developing a reinforcement robot to produce reinforcement cages. This would mean more efficient work processes and a clear improvement in the working environment for their construction workers.”
Skanska's representative in the partnership is Sara Gorton, Director of Sustainability and Innovation. Together with her, Fredrik Johansson and Rebecca Hollertz are developing a declaration of intent identifying areas where KTH and Skanska should focus their efforts. The assignment as partnership manager continues until the end of 2026 and comprises 20 percent of Fredrik Johansson's work during that time.
“It's good that the school allocates resources to the partnership so that KTH and Skanska get as much out of it as possible. Otherwise, I see a risk that it continues without thorough consideration of how to make the best of it. For my part, I think it's an honour to be entrusted with this role and it will be a very exciting challenge. I look forward to working with these issues over the coming years and am considering possible synergies with other partners, such as Scania, which works with electrification of vehicles in construction, the Swedish Transport Administration, and Region Stockholm.”
Throughout most of his academic career, Fredrik Johansson, who is now a professor of rock mechanics and researches design principles for underground construction, has worked part-time as a technical consultant and sees great value in the insights that proximity to the industry brings.
In addition to his role as partnership manager, he is chair of the scientific committee responsible for this year's “World Tunneling Congress,” which will gather nearly 3,000 people at the Stockholmsmässan fair in mid-May.
