New strategic partnership with Alleima
Alleima has been collaborating with Uppsala University for a long time, but the new partnership will deepen this collaboration over the long term.
Uppsala University has signed a new strategic partnership with the steel company Alleima. “It’s a particular pleasure to work closely with basic Swedish industry, which is now making a journey in terms of technology for the green transition,” says Charlotte Platzer Björkman, Vice-Rector and Professor at the Department of Materials Science.
The steel company Alleima was previously part of the Sandvik Group. They have been collaborating with Uppsala University for a long time, but the new partnership will deepen this collaboration over the long term.
Areas to be developed through the partnership include a larger number of more far-reaching research and development projects; increased mobility in the form of visiting professorships and doctoral students employed in industry; and direct knowledge exchange through study visits and guest lectures.
Tom Eriksson, Head of Research at Alleima and Charlotte Platzer Björkman, Vice-Rector and Professor at the Department of Materials Science.
The partnerships also help foster an industry-oriented perspective when designing the University’s programmes, which will help match them with demand on the labour market.
“The University’s ambition is to continuously develop strategic partnerships to produce societal benefits and innovation while strengthening the its research and education,” continues Platzer Björkman, Vice-Rector at Uppsala University.
Green transition technology
The partnership with Alleima is focused on finding new areas of research and education in which work can be undertaken to meet the challenges of the transition to a sustainable society and a circular economy.
“It’s a particular pleasure to work closely with basic Swedish industry, which is now making a journey in terms of technology for the green transition,” says Platzer Björkman.
“Alleima is a world-class operator in its field and our research has long had a natural link with theirs. Now we are strengthening that further,” notes Urban Wiklund, Professor of Materials Science at the Department of Materials Science at Uppsala University and manager of the strategic partnership with Alleima at Uppsala University.
“It feels great to deepen our collaboration with Uppsala University. The focus of the partnership is on materials science, but we also collaborate with the Department of Information Technology and the Division for Industrial Engineering and Management. Together with them, we are looking at how we can use the same technology behind facial recognition to recognise patterns in steel,” explains Tom Eriksson, Head of Research at Alleima.
New forms of collaboration
The strategic partnerships also work to disseminate the lessons learnt from previous projects, develop and establish new forms of collaboration and identify new areas at the University for collaboration with external partners.
“In this way, the knowledge and experiences developed in the strategic partnerships will also benefit others, both inside and outside academia,” continues Wiklund.
Uppsala University already has strategic partnerships with four companies and organisations: Hitachi Energy, Region Gotland, Volvo Cars Corporation and Uppsala Municipality.
Marie-Louise Olsen
Uppsala universitets strategiska partnerskap
- Uppsala University has strategic partnerships with a number of companies and organisations. The ambition is to continuously develop these collaborations to contribute to societal benefit and innovation while strengthening the university's research and education.
- Partnerships are concluded with larger companies or public organizations to enrich the university's research and education. They are characterized by a large breadth that includes several fields of science and subjects. The initiative for a partnership can either be taken from Uppsala University's management or from an external partner.
- The strategic partnerships also work to spread the experiences from previous projects, develop and establish new forms of collaboration and find new areas within the university for collaboration.