Sweden has been placed first in the European Commission's Innovation ranking during the last years, and also ranks top three in the Global Innovation Index based on parameters such as degree of knowledge, technology outputs and human capital. Sweden further performs remarkably well in terms of innovation start-ups. In a recent book, "Innovation - the Swedish way" published by the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), the authors Henrik Berggren and Eva Krutmeijer explore the structures that created this beneficial innovation climate and describe 50 innovations from Sweden that "has changed the world".

The list includes the Celsius thermometer, dynamite from Alfred Nobel, the propeller, IKEA furniture, the cardiac pacemaker, connectivity by Bluetooth, dental implants and music streaming by Spotify. In the list is also the "Map of Life" created by the Human Protein Atlas with its 13 million bioimages of the protein components of humans. The open access Atlas has around 4 million visits each year making it one of the world's most visited biological databases. The book points out that this resource is crucial for researchers worldwide to come up with more targeted pharmaceuticals.