The program is based at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) but is carried out in partnership between FOI, the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), the Division of Logistics and Quality Development at Linköping University (LiU), and the Division of Transport Planning at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).
This research program focuses on the resilience of the overall transport system during crises and wars. By resilience, we mean the ability of a system, an actor, or a logistics chain to recover to its previous function – or transition to a new, more functional state after a disruption.
The research program emphasizes the supply of goods and critical infrastructure as a central societal need in crises and wars. The overarching aim of the research program is to build knowledge on how preparedness considerations can be integrated into the development and planning of the transport system, which is expected to contribute to strengthening the transport system’s resilience and thus its ability to maintain the supply of goods in crises and wars. To achieve the aim of the research program, it is necessary to build knowledge on how preparedness considerations can be integrated into decision-making processes within both government management and the business sector, as well as what preparedness considerations practically entail.
Professor Erik Sandberg at Linköping University, leads the work on resilient supply chains.
The research program has five objectives:
- Analyse how logistics systems that handle critical flows of goods in Sweden can become more resilient in the event of war and how critical distribution routes can be secured.
- Analyse, based on current trends in technology development, such as digitalisation, energy transition, and vehicle propulsion, which of these strengthen or weaken the resilience of a future transport system and infrastructure.
- Analyse which control measures and policy instruments can be used to integrate preparedness considerations into decision-making.
- Describe what preparedness considerations entail by developing scenarios for both the threat landscape against Sweden and the development of the transport system, to determine what creates the conditions for the transport system to function in crises and wars.
- Develop methods to assess the transport system’s capability in future crises and wars, as well as potential future capability given targeted governance for increased resilience.
Project time: Januari 2023 to December 2027
