Science academy calls for boost to basic research spending

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has called on the government to increase public research spending to 1 per cent of GDP, during a debate on the benefits of basic science.

The debate was hosted as part of Almedalen, a week of political discussion on the Swedish island of Gotland. During the debate, Göran Hansson, secretary-general of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, said the state’s investment in research should increase from 0.75 per cent of GDP and that most of the money should go to basic research.

“This is the academy’s position. We want 1 per cent of GDP to go to research,” he said.