Research grants for competition and procurement

SEK 4.4 million is the figure that the Competition Authority has decided to distribute in grants to nine new research endeavours relating to competition and public procurement. At the same time, ongoing research projects already receive SEK 6.7 million to be able to continue their work.

The Competition Authority has a special appropriation to fund research on competition-related issues and public procurement. The research will contribute to increasing knowledge within these areas that are central to the Swedish economy.

Beneficiaries within new projects receiving grants include Associate Professor Björn Lundqvist at Stockholm University, who over a period of three years will study how competition can be affected by innovations.  

Andrea Sundstrand, Associate Professor at Stockholm University, is receiving a grant for her three-year project on corruption in public procurement.   Professor Sven-Olov Daunfeldt at HUI Research will spend two years studying how competition is affected by state aid being provided to private companies.  

The topic of whether consumer complaints can replace formal processes within competition law will be studied more closely in a three-year project carried out by Associate Professor Magnus Söderberg at the University of Gothenburg School of Business.  

Associate Professor Julian Nowag at Lund University is approved for a research grant for his three-year project, where confidence in competition authorities will be studied based on how autonomous and independent they are.

Professor Henrik Horn at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics is receiving a grant for the research project: Unilateral competition policy, standard-essential patents and international integration.  

In the international sphere, Professor Ulf Bernitz and doctoral student Helene Andersson, Stockholm University, shall study whether access to European Commission documents in cartel cases promotes or prevents the effective application of EU competition rules.  

In addition to these research grants, the Competition Authority has decided to provide grants for a conference and courses in 2016. Professor Richard Friberg, at the Stockholm School of Economics, is receiving funding to provide smaller courses within competition research, and Associate Professor Björn Lundqvist is receiving a grant to hold the research conference Academic Society for Competition Law.

“There is great interest in research regarding competition and public procurement. The fact that nearly 50 applications for research grants have been received this year is proof of this,” says the Competition Authority's Director-General Dan Sjöblom.

“I am very pleased that by supporting research we can acquire important new knowledge in areas that are vital for the economy and our prosperity.”