Two new graduate schools provide knowledge for Swedish industry

MDU will receive funding for two new industrial graduate schools, RELIANT and INDTECHPLUS, each with a different specialisation but both have a joint focus on application for Swedish industry.

Thanks to funding from the Knowledge Foundation (KK-Stiftelsen), with SEK 19.4 million for the RELIANT industrial graduate school and SEK 10.8 million for the INDTECHPLUS industrial graduate school, this will boost the University's research area and it will provide increased skills and expertise of strategic importance for the Swedish manufacturing industry. Graduate schools bring together doctoral students with a common focus, comprising a third-cycle subject area (doctoral subject) or a topic.

At the forefront of next-generation products

“MDU has an Embedded Systems research area that is recognised both nationally and internationally. With RELIANT, which is an industrial graduate school for resilient intelligent autonomous systems, we aim to further boost the research and educational environments,” says Kristina Lundqvist, Professor of Dependable Software Engineering at the School of Innovation, Design and Engineering (IDT) at MDU.

“And we are doing this in close collaboration with the private sector, in an area of significant importance for the industrial transition that is currently underway. By combining a solid research and education area with the skills of the collaborating companies, excellent opportunities for knowledge synergies are provided. Through the graduate school the doctoral students will not just be kept abreast of developments but they will be at the forefront of research and development. For the companies involved, the project also gives them access to a large amount of knowledge that RELIANT entails.

“The results will contribute to business sectors where the next generation of products will presumably have autonomous functionality while reliability will be maintained or even increased,” says Kristina Lundqvist.

Cooperation in research in Industry 4.0 and applied AI

INDTECHPLUS is a continuation of the INDTECH industrial graduate school, with more externally employed doctoral students who will focus on research cooperation in Industry 4.0 and applied AI for production systems at manufacturing industrial companies. Industry can thereby reap benefits, according to Markus Bohlin, Professor at the School of Innovation, Design and Engineering (IDT) and says:

“At the moment, nine companies are participating in the industrial graduate school, which has a total of 15 doctoral students. During the next stage of INDTECHPLUS, six companies, three of which are new, will hire another six doctoral students, thereby both broadening and enhancing MDU's collaboration with the private sector. The fact that participating companies are choosing to take on additional doctoral students is a strong sign that they are satisfied with the graduate school,” says Markus Bohlin.

It has been assessed that the companies benefit greatly through this collaboration through networking and easier access to data for instance.

“Through a broad industrial base which is unique and a good network support, INDTECH and INDTECHPLUS together provide a good foundation for cross-company and cross-industry synergies and value for doctoral students, industrial partners, the University and Sweden,” says Markus Bohlin.

Facilitates the upskilling of companies

The initiative has been made possible within the framework of the Knowledge Foundation's Company Graduate Schools Programme. In order to boost the capacity for research in areas that are important for both higher education institutions and the private sector, a continuous supply of researchers/postgraduates is required, according to Eva Schelin, CEO at the Knowledge Foundation.

“Externally employed doctoral students contribute to an upskilling of the companies, and together with the research that is conducted, to increasing the competitiveness of these companies. There is a huge interest both in collaboration between higher education institutions and from companies,” says Eva Schelin.