Sylvia Schwaag Serger

Biography

Sylvia Schwaag Serger is Deputy Vice Chancellor at Lund University. Prior to this, she was Executive Director for International Strategy at the Swedish Government Agency for Innovation (VINNOVA). She has run an independent think tank on the knowledge economy, worked as Swedish Science Counsellor in Beijing (2005 and 2007) and as an analyst for the Swedish Ministry of Trade and Industry. During 2015/2016 she was senior advisor at the Swedish Prime Minister’s Office for Strategic Development. In 2016, the Swedish government appointed her to coordinate the government’s efforts to mitigate the effects of Ericsson’s cutbacks in Sweden. She currently advises the Swedish government on how to cooperate with China in research, innovation and higher education. At European level, she has chaired an expert group on international research and innovation cooperation for DG Research. She has also served as member of an expert group tasked with evaluating the European Innovation Partnerships and is currently member of the Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR). She was one of the external experts in the OECD’s innovation reviews of Finland and Norway 2016/2017 and is currently evaluating Denmark’s Innovation Fund. Schwaag Serger is member of the Austrian Council for Research and Technological Development, chairperson of the Swedish Foundation for Internationalization of Higher Education and Research (STINT) and member of the International Advisory Board of the Norwegian Research Council. She has served on the board of the University of Uppsala and on the Swedish Government Expert Commission on Research. From 2013-2016 she was Guest Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute for Policy Management (CASIPM).