FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency

FOI researches for a safer, more secure world. This is the vision that we aim to achieve in everything we do.

FOI, the Swedish Defence Research Agency, is one of Europe’s leading research institutes in defence and security. FOI is a government authority under the Ministry of Defence, and most of its activities are assignment-based. Our largest clients are the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, the Government Offices and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. We also have many assignments from other government authorities, municipalities and companies, within the defence and security fields.

At FOI we conduct research in defence, security and safety at all levels of society – nationally, regionally and locally. FOI’s knowledge is also in demand internationally and we lead several EU projects.

Our research involves activities that are undertaken both within a long-term perspective of knowledge-building and those that are conducted more as applied knowledge. The latter rely on research & development, analysis, and more, to answer our end-users’ more short-term questions.

Covering the entire spectrum of defence and security questions

By combining several levels of knowledge from widely differing fields, FOI’s researchers work together to create an understanding of how societal and technical development interact. This also provides FOI excellent opportunities to identify threats and risks at an early stage and contribute to sustainable solutions.

FOI operates across the full range of defence and security issues. We conduct security policy analyses and assessments of various types of threat. We are leaders in underwater research and in research on energetic materials. We develop decision support systems and systems where people, technology and organisations interact. We also work in aeronautics, cyber security, radar, laser and other sensor systems, as well as protection against hazardous materials.

The agency has approximately 900 employees. About 700 are researchers at academic level. FOI employs physicists, chemists, engineers, social scientists, mathematicians and philosophers, working in research, method and technology development, analysis and studies.