FOI Annual Report 2005

FOI Annual Report 2005 describes the activities of the research institute in a comprehensible way. The report includes articles illustrating ways in which the research can be put to use.

FOI’s operations span a broad spectrum of areas which are divided into eight client-oriented research fields. Examples of work carried out by qualified staff from our nine departments are safety policy studies and analyses in the areas of defence and safety, assessment of various types of threats, systems for managing and handling crises, protection against and handling of hazardous substances, IT security and the potential of new sensors. In terms of research, our operations are multidisciplinary and cover a wide range of areas from technology and natural sciences to medicine and social science.

FOI is a government agency reporting to the Defence Ministry and primarily funded through commissioned research. Our expertise is to benefit all sectors of society, both military and civil. FOI’s operations are to be characterised by relevance, integrity, efficiency and scientific quality.

The assignments that we perform are always based on our clients’ needs and mainly take the shape of research. This includes investigations, analyses, training, various types of simulation, and testing and measuring. We define the research issues together with our clients and then we look for solutions with leading knowledge partners around the globe. We have excellent and fruitful cooperation with experts at universities and other higher education institutions, research institutes and business enterprises in both Sweden and abroad.

Our main clients are the Swedish Armed Forces, the Defence Materiel Administration and the Defence Ministry. Others include the Swedish Emergency Management Agency, the National Police Board, the Swedish Rescue Services Agency, the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, SAAB, Volvo, Bofors, Eurenco and Ericsson. FOI has an increasing number of international clients and cooperation ventures, such as those within the EU’s Framework Programme for Research.

The organisation has about 1250 employees, about 900 of whom are research scientists, making the organisation Sweden’s largest research institute. FOI’s operations involve unique and highly advanced instruments and laboratory equipment. We are located in Kista and Grindsjön in the Greater Stockholm, Linköping and Umeå.