Knowledge generated from science takes a long time, in contrast to society's need for research results to solve problems and questions that require immediate action. During the pandemic, this tension has been part of the social debate and thus made concrete for a wider public.

There is great agreement about the need for outstanding research and a society steeped in knowledge, but the path there is not clear cut. How should cooperation be organized so that knowledge from research can be applied in business, civil society and the judiciary, and what significance has research had for the design of Swedish alcohol and drug policy and the introduction of evidence-based practices within social services?

Riksbanken's Jubileumsfonds CEO Marika Hedin believes that recent years have clearly shown the challenges faced by research, innovation and knowledge-based decision-making:

- The dialogue between academia and the outside world must relate to the fact that there are certain conditions for how good scientific knowledge is created. In the same way, the program shows that society's knowledge needs must be clearly expressed. Policy decisions, innovations and social practice are not only based on scientific knowledge, but also on values ​​and path choices that follow, and must follow, a different logic than that of science. Society's long-term supply of knowledge is thus created in the meeting between academia and the outside world.

The seminar is a result of the research program Society's long-term knowledge supply, which has been financed by Formas, Forte, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and the Swedish Research Council. The main results and thoughts from the program effort are also collected in the box anthology Society's long-term knowledge supply.

Participating researchers:

• Anders Broström, docent in innovation and entrepreneurship studies at KTH
• Merle Jacob, professor of research policy at Lund University
• Anna Jonsson, docent in business administration at Lund University
• Johan Edman, professor of criminology at Stockholm University
• Margareta Hallberg, professor em. in theory of science at the University of Gothenburg
• Patrik Karlsson, docent in social work at Stockholm University
• Corinna Kruse, docent in social anthropology at Linköping University
• Maureen McKelvey, professor of industrial economics at the Gothenburg School of Economics

Program coordinator: Fredrik Persson-Lahusen