What Shapes Research Policy at the Local Government Level? The Establishment of a Research Fund in a Swedish Municipality

Abstract

Research policy in Sweden—and especially financial support for universities—has cus- tomarily been the business of the state, it has thus not figured clearly within the scope of local government. However, Swedish municipalities have increased their focus on re- search policy and have become more active as funders of research and development during the past two decades. As there are a number of circumstances which indicate that local government research funding activities can encounter challenges that differ from those of national funding organisations, it is important to critically examine the role of municipalities as funders of research and consider how local policy conditions, national institutional frameworks and policies shape this role. In this article I analyse the estab- lishment of a research fund to allocate grants to research projects in the Swedish munici- pality of Norrköping. Through identifying crucial phases, tensions and problems in the process of establishing the fund, the article shows that the process was solidly anchored in the needs of local policy interests and coalitions, but also that it was shaped by the key actors’ interpretations of national legal frameworks and policies in relation to the munici- pality’s scope for action in this area. Furthermore, the study shows that while the state appears to have generally been keen to encourage municipalities to invest more in re- search, the municipalities may still be somewhat uncertain about their roles in this area.