Innovation Office Fyrklövern – Sweden's most unique innovation office

You can’t solve societal challenges alone – we do it together

Innovation office Fyrklövern has established itself as one of Sweden’s leading innovation offices. The explanation lies in its collaborative innovation process. Each node within Fyrklövern has distinct strengths that contribute to the big picture. If the necessary expertise to take an idea forward is missing at one of the four member institutions, the others are quickly brought in. In fact, the collaboration goes far beyond just innovation support. Within Fyrklövern, expertise is shared across areas such as student and alumni engagement, research support, business law, finance, and communication. This makes Fyrklövern a unique player.

This is how we create opportunities for more ideas to benefit society

Many people have ideas but are unsure whether their idea really meets a societal need. A needs assessment is crucial but often comes with a cost – leading many idea holders to abandon their concepts. To address this, Vinnova has established a verification programme, enabling innovation offices to allocate funding to innovators. Within Fyrklövern, this is carried out through a joint verification council, where innovation advisors thoroughly evaluate current ideas and cases before deciding on verification funding. In this way, we open the door for more ideas and research results to make a real impact.

We equip future researchers with the right tools to change the world

Unfortunately, it is common for research results to remain within the walls of academia. Fyrklövern aims to change that. One way to do this is by educating our researchers. Every year, Fyrklövern offers a 4.5-credit course on how to utilise research, where doctoral students from the four member institutions learn how to transform research ideas into tangible societal benefits. In the course, we teach doctoral students everything from creating impact and building networks to crafting an elevator pitch, finding funding, and protecting their ideas. With this knowledge, future researchers can become future innovators.

About us

Innovation Office Fyrklövern was established at the government’s initiative in late 2009 and is one of 14 innovation offices in the country. Fyrklövern is a collaboration between four equal partners: Karlstad University, Linnaeus University, Mid Sweden University, and Örebro University.

Fyrklövern’s goal is to address contemporary and future societal challenges by enhancing value creation and the utilisation of research-based knowledge, and by contributing to more innovations from students, researchers, and other staff.

Fyrklövern’s work is guided by a steering group comprising four pro and deputy vice-chancellors, with a rotating chairmanship. The operational activities are led by a management group that includes the innovation support coordinators from each member institution.

Fyrklövern systematically engages in knowledge exchange among the four higher education institutions to continuously enhance expertise and to develop and implement new methods and approaches within the innovation support operations.

Fyrklövern has a strong foundation and operates at local, regional, and national levels.

Goals

Fyrklövern’s strategy is based on one overarching goal, two strategic goals, and three priority development areas for the period 2021–2024. The strategy provides a brief description of each area, along with sub-goals, activities, and indicators for follow-up. In addition to the strategy, an operational plan is drawn up annually.

Overarching goal

Fyrklövern aims to address contemporary and future societal challenges by enhancing value creation and the utilisation of research-based knowledge, as well as by contributing to more innovations from students, researchers, and other staff.

Strategic goals

1. To be a national leader in providing high-quality innovation support.
2. To be a national leader in addressing societal challenges.

Contact

If you have any questions or want to get in touch with us about Fyrklövern, please email us at innovation@lnu.se.