Annual review 2021 | Erling-Persson Foundation | Research & education

The Erling-Persson Foundation supports projects within scientific research, tuition and education, and the development of children and young people.

The Foundation receives applications from all over Sweden and works continually to drive development forward in its chosen areas.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

CONTENTS

Statement by the Chair The Foundation in brief 2021 in brief

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SCIENCE & RESE ARCH

Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam, Karolinska Institutet Johan Lundin, Karolinska Institutet Johan Junker, Region Östergötland Carina Blomström-Lundqvist, Uppsala University Other donations TUITION & EDUCATION

Aptitum Akademi Saxå Bruk O/Modernt Gapminder Foundation

14 22 26 32 38 42 46 49

DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

Mentor Scouting for all Generation Pep Other donations

56 62 68 75

Board of Directors Grants awarded in 2021 Financial statements Contact details

76 78 79 80

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STEFAN PERSSON

WE ARE A PIECE OF THE JIGSAW THAT MAKES IDEAS POSSIBLE The Persson family is keen to contribute to change in society.

Non-profit organisations and the research community work tirelessly to develop the world into a better place – and philanthropy enables this work to step up a gear.

of the jigsaw that makes ideas possible. Looking at the world responsively and inquisitively, and seeing more than one perspective, are therefore essential if the Foundation is to be able to contribute funding.

The Persson family’s community engagement is reflected in the Foundation’s focus areas. During the pandemic the importance of efforts in these areas has become even clearer. We have been able to see almost in real time how important research and development are for society’s ability to come up with new solutions to problems, but also how we need to pool our strengths and work together to get there. Studies of the importance of entrepreneurship for society have received confirmation from many places. Without thriving businesses, the expansion of testing capacity and the production of vaccines, diagnostics and drugs would have been an even greater challenge.

Turning to children and young people, we have seen that those who were most vulnerable at the o ­ utset were also those who felt the consequences of the pandemic most. Different groups of young people are in very different positions when it comes to accessing remote learning, for example. We already know that good schooling is one of the strongest protective ­factors for a young person’s ability to engage in ­further training or education, get a job and participate in ­society. Through the Foundation’s activities we hope to contribute to giving more young people a good start in life.

In the just over 20 years since the Foundation was established we have had the benefit of following many activities that through their good results are contributing to increasing our collective knowledge. Support for education that promotes the area of entrepre-

The Erling-Persson Foundation has its origin in the Persson family’s interest in entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurship can contribute to social change. Supporting research, education and initiatives for children and young people via the Foundation is a further way to try to influence society in a positive direction. The Foundation’s work also gives us as a family an opportunity to come together in our community engagement and in our firm belief that knowledge is one of our most important shared resources.

The Foundation’s purpose provides a framework for its activities, but how these are achieved is more open. This means that very different types of activities can be considered for support. There is also an acceptance that the effects or actual end results of a project idea can rarely be entirely controlled. Only by trying and exploring things can the boundaries of our know­ ledge be shifted.

The projects we support may tackle problems that have arisen suddenly, test a new activity or ­methodically investigate a particular issue. There is therefore great flexibility concerning what ideas can be implemented and how, and with what degree of risk.

Short decision paths and the ability to reprioritise in response to events in the world around us also mean that the Foundation can act quickly when required.

We see philanthropy as complementing public efforts, ­enabling society to step up a gear.

No one has a single solution to all society’s challenges and problems. Often we also need more than one idea and more than one approach to sort out a problem. That is why we constantly need a variety of initiatives, with multiple people putting ideas into practice. As a Foundation we see ourselves as one piece

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us through clearly illustrated quality-assured data.

For a number of years Gapminder, supported by the ­Erling-Persson Foundation among others, has made knowledge freely available to us all through its web tools.

In this annual review the individuals behind these projects and various others tell us more about what they are working on and what drives them.

At the Foundation we endeavour to be a small part of the journey that, through the tireless work of non-profit organisations and the research community, can make our world a better place.

At the time of writing the world is being shaken by the war in Ukraine, and the need to help people fl ­ eeing the war is increasing every day. As an initial step, in March the Foundation donated SEK 150 million in humanitarian aid, of which SEK 75 million went to Save the Children and SEK 75 million to the Red Cross.

Many organisations are involved in the humani­tarian relief efforts in this very difficult situation. We chose Save the Children and the Red Cross because their ­efforts focus on children and on medical efforts, which are two of the Foundation’s focus areas.

neurship has coincided in time with an expansion of how entrepreneurship is viewed. Stockholm School of Entrepreneur­ship and Stockholm School of ­Economics are two ­organisations that have contributed to this ­development with support from the Foundation.

The existence of fashion opens up many opportu­ nities for entrepreneurship, but fashion also reflects society in a broader perspective. Fashion as a social phenomenon is studied at Stockholm University, where Fashion Studies was established as an academic sub­ ject 15 years ago with the support of the ­Foundation.

The Foundation’s engagement for children and young people is partly about enabling individual young­ sters to find their place in society, and partly about pro­ viding society with knowledge about young ­people’s needs in a changing world. Fryshuset is an o ­ rganisation we have been following for quite some time; through its many activities it has helped ­innumerable young people to believe in themselves and find their path.

Along the way we have gained valuable ­insights – for example, into how young people are affected by ­growing up as outsiders.

In the area of science and research the Founda­ tion has been involved in many important ­matters.

One core area right from the start has been ­research into diabetes, but various other areas are also ­followed with great interest. How can cancer treat­ ment be p ­ ersonalised, for example, and what effects do ­environment and lifestyle have on health? ­Modern research takes place in an international arena. By ­supporting Swedish research we want to contribute both to increasing knowledge and to strengthening Swedish competitiveness.

Initiatives that received support from the Founda­ tion in 2021 ­represent both methodical research aimed at tackling acute problems that have arisen and investi­ gations testing out new ways of responding to a need.

The project ‘Future-proofing against COVID-19’ shows how methodical research, in this case into RNA virus, laid a foundation on which researchers were quickly able to build when the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus suddenly arose.

The Scouts’ inclusive activities are well-proven in Sweden, yet still more or less unknown in certain areas. ‘Scouting for all’ is a project trying new ways to reach new groups of young people, using different ­approaches to build further on the old values and to create new values.

With an ever-increasing flow of information around us, the importance of access to reliable data and being critical of sources is often mentioned. This has been made particularly clear by the ­‘infodemic’ that followed in the wake of the pandemic. The ­Gapminder Foundation represents a counterbalance, providing fact-based perspectives on the world around

Stefan Persson, Chair of the Board

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STEFAN PERSSON

“During the pandemic the importance of initiatives became particularly clear. We saw almost in real time how important research and development are for society’s ability to come up with new solutions to problems – but also how we need to pool our strengths and work together to get there.”

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THE FOUNDATION IN BRIEF

THE FOUNDATION’S ORIGIN AND PURPOSE Since the Erling-Persson Foundation was formed in 1999 it has made more than 250 donations totalling SEK 3.6 billion.

The long list of recipients includes Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm School of Economics and Fryshuset.

In 1947 Erling Persson established the company that has developed into the global H&M Group we know today. The Erling-Persson Foundation was formed in 1999, in memory of his many achievements in retail and enterprise, financed by donations from the Persson family.

The family is passionate about entrepreneurship as a positive force in society, so supporting education in this area was a natural initial focus for the Foundation. Before long two more areas were added, aimed at equipping society better for the future: support for ­research and for the development of children and young people.

To stimulate new thinking and new solutions the Foundation stresses the importance of meetings and collaboration, so it likes to support i­nterdisciplinary ventures and projects that link together different ­sectors of society.

The Foundation’s commitment to the projects ­supported is based on confidence that the project ­owner has the capability to expand the boundaries of our shared knowledge and understanding, and a sure and certain belief that knowledge changes and ­i­mproves lives.

More than 250 donations have been made to date, with the Foundation having given SEK 3.6 billion to causes that benefit society. The largest single donation so far, around SEK 400 million, was made to Karolinska Institutet in 2010 to enable the building of the Aula Medica – a 10,000 square metre complex providing ­excellent facilities for both research and education.

Various entrepreneurship courses have t­ogether received around SEK 700 million, with S­tockholm ­ School of Economics, Stockholm School of Entre­

preneurship and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) major recipients. A ­ ­donation of SEK 75 million from the Foundation also enabled the start of education and research in fashion studies, with the Centre for Fashion Studies now well established at Stockholm University.

In the scientific field, research into type 1 ­diabetes is the area where the Foundation has made its l­argest contribution, amounting to around SEK 400 million to date. Significant support has also been given to research in areas such as cancer, cardiovascular ­disease, antibiotic resistance and neurological ­disease.

Fryshuset was the first children’s and young ­people’s organisation to receive support for its a­ ctivities from the Foundation. So far, its projects have received funding from the Foundation totalling around SEK 170 million, helping Fryshuset to develop into a h ­ ighly valued centre for children and young people within sport, knowledge, leisure activities and more. Organisations for children and young people have together ­received nearly SEK 350 million.

At the end of 2021 donations to the three focus areas were distributed approximately as follows (in SEK): 50 percent to research, 40 percent to education and 10 percent to children and young people.

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Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES) is an interdisciplinary and international convergence of six universities and colleges where students collaborate on tomorrow’s innovations and enterprise. Over 20 years SSES has received total support of SEK 383 million.

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1999

In 1947 Erling Persson established the company that has developed into the global H&M Group we know today. In 1999 the ErlingPersson Foundation was formed, in memory of his many achievements within retail and enterprise.

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Applications for research support are received from all over Sweden.

Just over 40 percent of all main applicants are women.

The Foundation’s board holds regular meetings four times a year.

138.5

1.414

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The Centre for Fashion Studies was established at Stockholm University in 2006, aided by a donation from the Foundation of SEK 75 million. Since 2018 fashion studies has been an independent academic discipline at the university.

3.622

Since the Foundation was formed in 1999 it has handed out more than SEK 3.6 billion to its three focus areas.

10,000

Education and research in the areas of climate and the environ­ ment are important for being able to build a sustainable future.

Through various initiatives the Foundation has donated SEK 138.5 million to these areas.

Over the years, just over SEK 1.4 billion has been donated in the area of Tuition & Education. That represents around 40 percent of all donated funds.

The largest individual donation to date, around SEK 400 million, was made to Karolinska Institutet in 2010 and enabled the building of the Aula Medica, a 10,000 square metre complex serving the needs of research and education.

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50%

150

By 31 December 2021 the Foundation had granted funding to 65 projects that promote the development of children and young people, amounting to SEK 358 million in total.

Nearly half of the total funds distributed by the Foundation, or SEK 1.86 billion, has been donated to research projects led by Swedish universities and colleges.

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The Foundation receives more than 150 applications for project support every year.

Around 100 of these are research applications.

THE PAST YEAR

2021 IN BRIEF In 2021 the Erling-Persson Foundation received many interesting and important project proposals.

At the end of the year research secretary Ylva Linderson totals the donations at SEK 95.4 million across 16 projects within the Foundation’s three focus areas.

With multiple vaccines against coronavirus on their way out into the world, 2021 began hopefully. There is still a lot to learn, but despite uncertainties the past year has seen a significant recovery from an economic point of view. The world’s stock e­ xchanges not only bounced back, but set new records. In a short-term perspective, good news for philanthropy.

In 2021 the Foundation received many interesting and important project proposals, and donated a total of SEK 95.4 million spread across 16 projects in its three focus areas.

In the area of science and research, eight p ­ rojects were donated a total of SEK 56.5 million. The projects cover topics such as cardiovascular ­disease, the diagnosis and fighting of cancer and infectious diseases, metabolic disorders associated with illness and regenerative medicine. The effects of the pandemic were noticeable in several ways. Projects based on international collaboration often had to slow their pace due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. The ability to carry out clinical trials or gain access to patient samples was in some cases ­affected by the healthcare sector being overstretched. At the Foundation this was noticeable in a somewhat greater need than usual among the projects to be given more time for completion.

Among project proposals received by the Foundation in the area of children and young people the big topics are mental health and exclusion, as well as meaningful and healthy leisure time that provides connections. It is clear that civil society sees a great need in these areas, that they affect each other and are of great significance for young people’s future wellbeing and opportunities.

Young people’s ability to make healthy choices is vital for their development and future lives. We know from Generation Pep’s reports on exercise and health among children and young people that there is plenty of room for improvement. All the leisure activities that were cancelled by the pandemic have only further underlined this need. To boost its work Generation Pep was donated support of SEK 2.5 million in 2021.

The largest individual donation in 2021 was to an initiative to stimulate knowledge of Nordic and European food culture. Donated SEK 25 million over six years, the foundation Aptitum Akademi Saxå Bruk will ‘conduct training and support research to ­develop Swedish gastronomy as an art form’.

Just before this review was completed the in­vasion of Ukraine began. Many suddenly found themselves in a very vulnerable situation. The F ­ oundation therefore decided at short notice to support the efforts by Save the Children and the Red Cross to help those in need. The future for the many affected is uncertain, but it is clear that civil society efforts will be required for a long time.

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In 2021 the Foundation received many interesting and important project proposals, says Ylva Linderson.

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Science &

research

SEK 8 M / 3 YEARS

A BETTER PICTURE OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 In this project Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam will map our immune response to new variants of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, to understand how immunity is built up in the population – thereby putting us in a better position to respond to new virus variants and plan for future vaccinations.

“The immune system responds with its whole a­ rsenal, but only a small proportion of all the antibodies that the body produces in response to an infection or ­vaccination can actually neutralise the virus. We are interested in qualitative differences between different neutralising antibodies, and also whether individuals differ in terms of the type of antibodies they make,” she says.

To analyse how the antibodies bind the virus at a detailed level Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam’s group has developed methods of isolating individual antibodies – known as monoclonal antibodies – from memory B cells to investigate which types of antibodies can neutralise different virus variants.

“Our results to date have shown that certain anti­ bodies only neutralise the original virus, while other antibodies also neutralise the so-called variants,” she says.

The project now receiving support from the ­Erling-Persson Foundation is called ‘Future-proofing against COVID-19’ and has various parts.

“First we need to understand what the ­different virus variants are like, by analysing their family tree,” she says. “With sufficient volumes of data it is ­possible to distinguish which types of mutations the virus allows or does not allow,” says Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam.

Here advanced modelling is required – something that her colleague Ben Murrell is expert at, ­having published data on the Alpha, Beta and Gamma ­virus variants in the scientific journal Cell. This type of monitoring is important for being able to ­predict how the virus may impact.

When the corona pandemic was a fact in March 2020, Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam, professor of ­vaccine i­ mmunology at Karolinska Institutet, already had a good idea of how viruses and anti-viral immune ­responses ­generally behave.

“I’ve been working with antibodies to viruses since the early 1990s – particularly antibodies that target the outer structures of viruses, known as spike proteins. I spent a long time researching how anti­ bodies bind HIV, a particularly tricky virus. You could say spike proteins have followed me throughout my career,” she says.

Both coronavirus and HIV use their spike ­proteins to get into their respective host cells and they are i­mportant targets for antibodies that in the best case block the virus’s ability to infect new cells.

“When Covid-19 arrived we had the tools to quickly begin making spike proteins in the ­laboratory and we were able to rapidly set up various tests to investigate the occurrence of both antibodies and ­ memory B cells in samples from infected individuals,” says Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam.

Memory B cells act as a long-term archive that stores information from previous infections and vaccinations. The memory cells do not produce ­ anti­bodies themselves, but they can be activated to ­become antibody-producing cells very quickly if we are in­fected by a substance that the immune system has seen before.

In collaboration with Ben Murrell, her research group is investigating how different antibodies bind and block (neutralise) viruses. Spike proteins are big, so there are hundreds of different ways an antibody can bind to them.

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The next part of the project involves tracking the l­ evels of antibodies in the population to get an overview, as the group did during the first year of the ­pandemic and published in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

To get further information they then measure neutralising antibodies against the different virus variants, which tells them more about the protective effect. The group then analyses both blood samples and panels of monoclonal antibodies to understand the immune response in detail. How relevant and important this research is became clear when the ­ Omicron variant caught the world napping at the end of November 2021. As early as December the research group was able to share data showing that Omicron could evade the vaccines in certain cases, while in ­other cases the protection remained. Great differences could be seen in the study: a 25-fold ­ ­reduction in protection in some samples, while o ­ thers had no decrease at all. The study was published ­recently in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

32 The number of mutations that the Omicron variant had in its spike protein – as compared with the Delta variant’s nine.

Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam says the financial ­support is very important.

“Together with Ben Murrell and Gerald M ­ cInerney at KI I’ve had a substantial two-year EU grant for SARSCoV-2 research which runs out in March 2022, so the donation from the Erling-Persson Foundation is an ­important bridge from that grant,” she says, continuing: “It means we can retain existing employees who are here working with us on the specialist methods we’ve built up, so we don’t have to slacken the pace.

That means we can continue to contribute to Covid research, which we are very grateful for.”

462 In March 2022 a total of 462 million cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection had been reported globally.

4 The number of different vaccine production technologies behind the Covid-19 vaccines approved within the EU. mRNA vaccines have been used the most so far.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Project manager: Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam is Professor of Vaccine Immunology at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet.

Title: ‘Future-proofing against COVID-19’.

What it involves: Monitoring which new variants of coronavirus arise and investigating how the population’s immune response to new variants develops.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 8 million over three years.

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Professor Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam with doctoral student Marco Mandolesi, who is researching memory B cells and investigating how the immune response matures after booster doses of vaccine.

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Research specialist Xaquin Castro Dopico works in the cell cultivation lab and has mapped the antibody response in Stockholm during different periods of the pandemic.

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Professor Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam with Ben Murrell and Jonathan Coquet, both assistant professors.

The research team is investigating what type of antibodies give the best protection against SARS-CoV-2.

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Research specialist Martin Corcoran and doctoral student Sanjana Narang map human antibody genes, which vary between different individuals. The differences may partly explain why we handle infections more or less effectively.

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SEK 10 M / 3 YEARS

DEVELOPING WIDELY AVAILABLE DIAGNOSTICS Johan Lundin is working to enable the use of AIsupported image diagnostics even in resource-limited areas.

A mobile digital microscope that can be used in the field has proven to enable diagnosis of both cancer and infectious diseases.

Analysing microscopic samples of cells and other t­ issue is essential for being able to make a correct d ­ iagnosis.

In cancer prevention, for example, pathologists assess whether a particular cell change is a preliminary stage of cancer. Johan Lundin, a professor at the D ­ epartment of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet in Solna, has ongoing partnerships in Tanzania and ­ ­Kenya where there is a shortage of pathologists.

“In sub-Saharan Africa there is estimated to be on average fewer than one pathologist per million people.

Compare that to Sweden, where there is considered to be a shortage with 30 pathologists per million people,” says Johan Lundin.

Using digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) he and his colleagues want to spread access to image-based diagnostics. AI technology based on ­ ‘deep learning’ has revolutionised image-based pattern ­recognition. Today this is available in everything from mobile phones with facial recognition to ­self-driving cars, and to an ever-increasing extent also within ­medical diagnostics. It means that the system can learn to recognise structures that distinguish cancer cells or can find malaria parasites in a blood sample.

Initially the researchers developed a prototype digital microscope that they call MoMic using components from the mobile industry. Using this instrument and similar mobile microscopes that are now also commercially available, samples of blood or cells can be analysed and data forwarded from the device.

“So the person assessing the images doesn’t actually need to be in the same room – the images can just as easily be sent to another city or another country,” he says.

Having an expert go through digital samples that are then used to train the AI enables the AI to learn.

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“People get tired, but the AI goes through every s­ ample with equal speed and care. The system is also c­ onsistent and assesses the same sample exactly the same on ­different occasions,” says Johan Lundin.

He highlights the fact that the project involves representatives of Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala ­ ­University and the University of Helsinki.

“Those of us in the Nordic management team work closely with each other as well as with our team members on the spot in Kenya and Tanzania. These local workers have learnt to use the method and are in turn teaching it to others in their home regions,” says Johan Lundin.

In the project ‘Artificial intelligence for d ­ iagnos­tics of cancer and infectious disease in resource-­limited ­s­ettings – the MoMic Project’ they will now apply the method in three different areas. In one subproject they will see whether the method can be used to screen for cervical cancer, which is the most common cause of cancer mortality in women in sub-Saharan Africa.

“One factor is that women with HIV have an ­increased risk of also carrying the human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer. Since few have ­ ­access to screening, the risk of the cancer managing to spread before it is discovered increases,” says Johan Lundin.

The researchers are working with a hospital in ­Kinondo in rural Kenya, where women with HIV go to get their medicines every three months.

“We were able to take cell samples in ­conjunction with these check-ups and those who had changes ­received treatment,” says Johan Lundin.

Last year they showed in a study involving 740 women that AI had an accuracy of between 96 and

Johan Lundin and his colleagues Andreas Mårtensson and Nina Linder want to spread access to image-based diagnostics to places where there are no pathologists.

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Analyst Felix Kinyua stains cell samples in the lab in Kenya.

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100 percent when it came to finding changes in cell samples, as they published in JAMA Network Open.

However, AI was somewhat worse at interpreting ­samples from low-grade cancer, which it is hoped can be improved in the follow-up now planned that will ­involve 1,500 women from various clinics in the area.

“We will also be following up the thirty or so women from the first study who had cell changes, to ensure that the local freezing treatment they received was sufficient to stop the cancer developing,” he says.

Malaria affects 200 million people annually, the majority of them children under the age of five. In a study published in PLOS One in 2020 the r­ esearchers showed that their method could be used to find malaria parasites in microscopy images of blood ­ smears. A staining method is used that causes the ­parasites to ‘light up’, which means the magnification does not need to be extreme. Since resistance to drugs is ­becoming increasingly common, in a new study they will analyse blood samples from 800 patients that are taken before treatment and then again three days after, to assess how the treatment works.

The third sub-project is to investigate the incidence of infection with parasitic worms which nearly 30 ­percent of children in Tanzania and Kenya carry.

“The children rarely become seriously ill, but can suffer from fatigue, malnutrition and poor growth and don’t have the energy to keep up in school as well as others.

Today it’s common for all pupils in the school to be given a worming treatment, regardless of w ­ hether or not they are infected,” says Johan Lundin.

He thinks that with more efficient and simplified diagnostics the treatment could be given only to those children who are infected – thereby also reducing the risk of drug resistance.

The researchers will study how good AI is at finding worm eggs in faecal samples compared with a skilled human microscopist. They described this method in a study from 2017 in Global Health Action.

In an as yet unpublished study Johan Lundin says they saw that AI found the around 10 percent of samples containing worm eggs that a human misses.

“It’s no wonder that they do, since an entire microscope slide may have only one or two eggs – so it really is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But the AI is meticulous and fast, and searches through a whole sample in a tenth of the time it takes a human.”

The aim of the new study is to see whether this method can be used to rapidly distinguish whether or not a child is infected, to avoid unnecessary ­medication.

>96%

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200

The accuracy of the researchers’ AI at finding cell changes in microscopy images that could result in cervical cancer.

The AI takes one minute to investigate microscopy images of faecal samples for eggs from parasitic worms. It takes a skilled microscopist 10 minutes.

200 million people are affected by malaria annually around the world.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Project manager: Johan Lundin, a professor in the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet in Solna and also Research Director at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki.

Title: ‘Artificial intelligence for diagnostics of cancer and infectious disease in resource-limited settings – the MoMic Project’.

What it involves: Using a microscope connected to the mobile network, image data can be analysed using artificial intelligence (AI) or a combination of AI and medical expertise.

This opens the way for better image diagnostics even in resource-limited areas.

Who: Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University and the University of Helsinki, and from Kinondo Hospital in Kenya and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 10 million over three years.

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SEK 8 M / 3 YEARS

AIMING TO PRODUCE SKIN THAT FUNCTIONS Severe burns are today treated with grafts that restore the skin’s role as a barrier, but other functions – including sensitivity, temperature regulation and elasticity – are lost.

Johan Junker and his colleagues hope to remedy this.

“Between 25 and 40 percent of all hospital beds in the EU are occupied by patients with slow-healing wounds. In Sweden 4 percent of the entire healthcare budget is spent on treating these – the single largest item in the budget,” he says.

For those affected, too, the consequences can be huge.

“It may be that a person has to organise their life around going to the clinic two or three times a week to have their dressing changed,” says Johan Junker.

The project ‘Skin biofabrication and transplantation for the treatment of burns’ focuses on wounds resulting from burns. These are currently treated u ­ sing skin grafts, which involves planing off a thin ­layer of healthy skin from the patient and moving it to the damaged area. But although the wound is closed, ­ ­scarring results.

“Scarring over joints or hands can result in ­reduced mobility,” says Johan Junker.

It is also possible to cultivate skin cells from the epidermis, the skin’s outer layer, but applying these to a fairly deep wound again results in scarring. Now the researchers hope to be able to produce functioning skin to transplant by combining two different tracks.

One element involves what are known as micrografts – taking small pieces of skin and growing them on.

“The advantage is that we then have different kinds of cell types with the interaction between them that exists in actual skin. So far we have been able to use such micrografts to expand skin up to a hundred times, which means that a piece the size of a postcard could be sufficient to cover the entire body,” says Johan Junker.

The skin is our largest organ and provides a p ­ rotective barrier against the outside world. Current methods of treating major wounds, such as burns, generate hard and ugly scarring and the sensitivity, temperature ­regulation and elasticity of normal skin is lost – which is why researchers J­ohan Junker, associate professor of plastic surgery, and Daniel Aili, a professor in the biophysics and bioengineering division at Linköping ­University, want to create better skin to transplant. ­Johan Junker says they complement each other well.

“Daniel and I have very different skillsets – he’s an engineer, and engineers are extremely clever,” says Johan Junker. Daniel Aili adds: “But we have a tendency to complicate things when we get fascinated by a technical solution. That’s when it’s good to have Johan bringing us back to ­reality,” he says.

“A piece the size of a postcard could be sufficient to cover the entire body.”

“I find applications for things – ‘you’ve made a great biomaterial and now I’m going to cut it up with s­ cissors and put it on a wound’,” chips in Johan Junker as an example.

A damaged skin barrier can result in wounds that are difficult to heal, commonly known as ulcers.

The RiksSår quality register defines these as wounds that have not healed within six weeks. Johan Junker says these are both the most common and the most ­expensive problem in healthcare.

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Associate professor Johan Junker, researcher Jonathan Rakar and professor Daniel Aili look at chips resulting from 3D printing by doctoral student Sajjad Naeimipour, who is testing out different types of materials to find the right variant to combine with cells.

A 3D bioprinter is used to combine biomaterials with cells.

This enables the researchers to produce tissue of a specific shape and size.

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They have published this previously in the ­journal ­Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The second e­ lement is Daniel Aili’s specialism and involves p ­ rinting skin ­using a bioprinter.

“It works like a normal 3D printer, but instead of printing in plastic we use cells embedded in a hydrogel,” he says.

This is a challenge, since the cells are highly ­sensitive and can easily be broken and die. The m ­ aterial ­printed along with the cells both protects them and acts as a stabilising three-dimensional polymer network that can help the cells to start forming tissue-like structures. The researchers have succeeded in creating these, as they published in Biofabrication in 2020.

“Here we will explore the possibilities of printing multiple layers of cells and combining various relevant cell types, micrografts and materials that stimulate the formation of new skin,” says Daniel Aili.

In collaboration with colleagues in Gothenburg the resulting skin will be tested on mice to see that it works and is not harmful. In a next step the skin ­material will then be tested on pigs, where wound healing is similar to that of humans.

“As with us, the skin is attached firmly to the ­underlying layer – in contrast to rodents, where the skin is loose. They heal wounds by puckering the skin together. We will try covering both regular wounds and burns with the material,” says Johan Junker.

The hope is that the new skin material that the project generates will be able to be used for burns, but also for other wounds that are slow to heal. In an e­ arlier study published in Burns in 2020 they were able to show that small pieces of gelatine that were covered with two cultivated cell types were able to heal wounds on pigs.

“It works like a normal 3D printer, but instead of printing in plastic we use cells embedded in a hydrogel.”

The importance of the support from the ErlingPersson Foundation cannot be overstated, the researchers say.

“To put it bluntly, we would not have been able to do this without funding – so the support is 100 ­percent essential for this project. We’ve already started ­bringing in doctoral students and postdocs who will work on various elements,” says Johan Junker.

Daniel Aili adds: “We also hope that the project will give rise to new ideas and to younger colleagues learning more about this area, so that the knowledge spreads out like rings on water.”

25– 40%

2–3

The proportion of hospital beds in the EU occupied by patients with slow-to-heal wounds.

In Sweden it is estimated that 4 percent of the entire healthcare budget is spent on such wounds.

In 2–3 weeks the epidermis is replaced across the entire body. Johan Junker says that most ends up in bedclothes.

100 How much the researchers have been able to expand skin to date. It means a piece the size of a postcard could be cultivated to cover the entire body.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Project managers: Johan Junker, associate professor of plastic surgery at the Laboratory for Experimental Plastic Surgery and coordinator for experimental traumatology at the Centre for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology, Linköping University, and Daniel Aili, a professor in the Biophysics and Bioengineering division at Linköping University.

Title: ‘Skin biofabrication and transplantation for the treatment of burns’.

What it involves: Being able to produce skin material that is more like real skin, for treating burns.

One element involves cultivating skin from micrografts. The other is to use a bioprinter to print skin consisting of multiple cell types in various layers, supported by a kind of three-dimensional grid.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 8 million over three years.

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SEK 9 M / 3 YEARS

TOWARDS A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR HEART PATIENTS Nearly 400,000 Swedes live with the cardiovascular condition atrial fibrillation, but current drugs do not fully relieve the symptoms. In a large study Carina BlomströmLundqvist wants to investigate whether a procedure in the heart produces better results – in terms of both the recurrence of fibrillation and the patients’ quality of life.

20–30 percent of patients after a year’s medication, which is not good enough,” she says.

But there is another way to control the heart rhythm. In the 1990s French doctors developed a method known as pulmonary vein isolation using ­ablation. It involves using heat or cold to create tissue damage just where the cells in the atrium send the irregular signals. This creates scarring that forms a barrier to the electrical pulses. Since there is a small risk of complications, however, this method is only recommended as a secondary treatment after treatment with drugs has been tried without success.

In the project ‘CryoStopPersAF – First-line cryo­­­ablation for early treatment of persistent ­ Atrial ­Fibrillation – a randomized study comparing e­arly trigger isolation using the Cryoballoon versus anti­ arrhythmic medication’ – Carina B ­lomströmLundqvist and her colleagues now want to compare the two methods.

“We want to give half of those taking part in the study ablation straight away, without first taking the drug treatment route. Registry studies have shown that the sooner ablation is used, the better its effect. It reduces the risk of the fibrillation worsening, as well as the risk of the musculature in the atria changing such that the patient suffers chronic fibrillation.”

A total of 220 patients will be randomly a­ ssigned ablation or drug treatment. The study will be ­carried out at various Swedish hospitals and at some ­hospitals in other countries. One aim is to include a higher proportion of women than would normally be the case. Carina Blomström-Lundqvist says that ­generally only a fifth of the patients in cardiac studies are women, even though the proportion of women

Atrial fibrillation is common and between 350,000 and 400,000 Swedes are living with the diagnosis.

Fibrillation means that the heart beats irregularly and often quickly. It is caused by incorrect electrical signals from areas in the heart’s left atrium, often at the opening for the pulmonary veins. The result is a chaotic heart rhythm in the atria at speeds of up to 300 beats a minute, compared with the normal 50–80 beats. The atria cannot contract at that rate and the heart’s ability to pump out oxygen-saturated blood reduces by up to 15 percent.

Carina Blomström-Lundqvist, a professor in the Department of Medical Sciences at the universities of Uppsala and Örebro and senior consultant in cardio­ logy at Uppsala University Hospital and Örebro ­University Hospital, meets these patients daily.

“Atrial fibrillation also produces complications in the form of an increased risk of stroke, and ­people also experience a clear reduction in quality of life because they don’t have the energy to do what they want to,” she says.

Increasing age is a risk factor for being affected, as are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, obesity and high alcohol consumption.

“But atrial fibrillation can also affect those who train extra hard, such as elite athletes,” she says.

Of the cardiac conditions that result in arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation is the most common cause of hospital admissions. One big problem is that the drugs used to stabilise the heart rhythm are not sufficiently effective.

“You might expect that 80–90 percent of ­patients would be free of fibrillation after a year, but it’s not like that. The drug only eliminates fibrillation in

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Carina Blomström-Lundqvist wants to help patients with atrial fibrillation.

The heart’s four pulmonary veins open into the left atrium. Freezing these results in scarring, which forms a barrier that prevents atrial fibrillation.

33

A patient undergoes treatment in the arrhythmia lab. The heart’s electrical signals are monitored from the control room, which also registers when the pulmonary veins have been frozen and are isolated.

34

35

with cardiovascular conditions is significantly higher – in the case of atrial fibrillation, just over a third of patients are women.

“We want to curb the tendency for women not to be offered as advanced cardiac care as is offered to men and push the participating hospitals not to forget the women,” she says.

To continually measure the incidence of fibrillation all participants will have a small box inserted ­under the skin to monitor their heart rhythm for a p ­ eriod of three years. The signals can be read ­remotely, so the patient does not need to go to the hospital.

In an earlier study published in JAMA in 2019 the researchers used such readings to measure ­objectively the incidence of fibrillation and its link to ­quality of life.

“We were then able to see a reduced incidence of atrial fibrillation, clearly co-varying with an increased quality of life, which had not been shown previously,” she says.

One catch is that the boxes for monitoring cost more than SEK 15,000 each.

“That’s why the support from the Erling-Persson Foundation is so incredibly important to us. Without it we would not be able to carry out such a large and meticulous study,” s­ ays Carina Blomström-Lundqvist.

The first results measured will be to compare the ­recurrence of fibrillation after a year.

“Then we will continue to measure for three years in total, to see whether the results are sustained,” she says.

The study will also measure biomarkers that provide evidence of inflammation and cardiac m ­ uscle damage. Using electrocardiograms (ECGs) and ­ultra­sound they will track the left atrium’s ability to contract. The researchers will also measure cognitive effect, as well as how cost effective the treatments are.

To get a clear picture of the patients’ quality of life this will also be measured using three different formulas. Carina Blomström-Lundqvist believes that those with atrial fibrillation are a neglected patient group.

“If you don’t get the best treatment, you adapt to a circumscribed life. You might give up playing tennis because you don’t have the energy or decide not to travel because of the risk of having attacks,” she says.

The fact that the study is so extensive and has a long follow-up period guarantees that it will provide a clear result.

“We want the study to come down firmly and show clearly which treatment is most effective. It is the only way to implement a change in the care that these patients get,” says Carina Blomström-Lundqvist.

≤ 400,000

15%

35%

350,000–400,000 Swedes live with a diagnosis of atrial fibrill­ ation, representing 3–4 percent of the entire population.

The amount by which heart capacity is reduced by atrial fibrillation. It means the difference between having the energy to go up stairs or not.

The proportion of patients with atrial fibrillation who are women.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Project manager: Carina Blomström-Lundqvist, a professor in the Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University and at the School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, and senior consultant in cardiology at Örebro University Hospital and Uppsala University Hospital.

Co-applicants: Espen Fengsrud (Örebro University Hospital), Frank Flachskampf, Stefan Lönnerholm, (Uppsala University Hospital), David Mörtsell (Lund University), Runa Sigurjonsdottir, Dritan Poci (Sahlgrenska University Hospital), Dhiraj Gupta (Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, UK).

Title: ‘First-line cryoablation for early treatment of persistent Atrial Fibrillation – a randomized study comparing early trigger isolation using the Cryoballoon versus antiarrhythmic medication’.

What it involves: The researchers want to compare two methods of treating atrial fibrillation: removing the irregular signals that create fibrillation by means of freezing as an initial treatment, or giving rhythm-stabilising drugs.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 9 million over three years.

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On a big screen in the arrhythmia lab X-ray images of the heart are shown at two levels: a computer tomography image showing the heart’s pulmonary veins (red) and electrical signals from the heart cavity.

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OTHER DONATIONS

INTERACTION BETWEEN DIABETES AND BRAIN TUMOUR Beatrice Melin, Umeå University SEK 9 M / 3 YEARS Malignant glioma, or malignant brain tumour, is one of the most serious tumours and has a high mortality rate. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiot­herapy can slow the course of the disease, but the prognosis is often poor – despite attempts to personalise the treatment based on new genetic findings concerning the disease.

Beatrice Melin and her colleagues at Umeå University have observed that individuals with ­ diabetes have a reduced risk of developing ­ ­glioma. One hypothesis is that the diabetes drug metformin may be the protective factor. This ­ ­hypothesis is supported by preliminary national ­registry analysis, which has confirmed that individuals who had been prescribed metformin have a ­lower risk of developing glioma. They now want to ­conduct thorough mapping of the p ­ rotective ­effect and in which of the subgroups of glioma metformin is most effective. To do this they will use large biobanks in Västerbotten where there are blood samples taken before and after a person has developed glioma and diabetes respectively.

They are investigating patterns in the metabolism of these individuals (because metformin affects the metabolism) and combining this with the ­results of earlier studies into genetic subgroups of glioma.

The group’s aim is to identify subgroups of glioma that could be treated with metformin and perhaps in certain cases prevent glioma. The link between metformin and cancer was known previously, and trials are in progress within other types of cancer.

PREVENTING LIVER CANCER

BY TREATING INFLAMMATION Margit Mahlapuu, University of Gothenburg SEK 1.96 M / 3 YEARS Liver cancer is the second most common type of cancer in a global perspective and is exhibiting increasing incidence and mortality. A strong contributory factor is fat accumulation in the l­iver, which in turn is strongly linked to the increase in the incidence of obesity that is being seen in

38

a large part of the world. Fatty liver disease can lead to chronic inflammation in the liver, which in a next step can become liver cancer. There is therefore a great need to find ways of reducing the risk of the occurrence of cancer when the liver has become inflamed.

In the project Margit Mahlapuu ­ wants to ­develop drugs that can prevent the development of ­chronic inflammation in the liver as a result of obesity. Mahlapuu has previously carried out groundbreaking experimental studies in this area and has identified an enzyme that is linked to the depositing of fat in the liver and which appears to be a key factor in the development of severe inflammation. By targeting this enzyme it is hoped to produce a new type of drug and a treatment that can help millions of people around the world.

NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR RAPID DISCOVERY OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE Fredrik Westerlund, Chalmers SEK 9 M / 3 YEARS The number of infections caused by antibiotic-­ resistant bacteria is increasing around the world.

To counter the development of ­ resistance and reduce the overuse of antibiotics it is i­mportant that rapid, safe and cost-effective methods of diagnosing bacterial infections are ­produced. An interdisciplinary project led by Fredrik ­ Westerlund at Chalmers University of Technology, which was supported by a previous donation from the ­ Erling-Persson Foundation, established a ­completely new method of diagnosing bacterial infections.

The method is based on using n ­anofluids to identify the bacteria’s DNA, rather than ­traditional sequencing. In the next phase of the project the team will expand this method to a number of bacterial infections that are creating problems in clinical settings, such as infections of the lower airways or gastrointestinal infections, but also infections caused by gut bacteria such as EHEC. The new method is expected to considerably shorten the time taken from sample to diagnosis, so that the right antibiotics can be administered earlier. This will reduce both the risk to the patient and the risk of more antibiotic-resistant bacteria developing.

OTHER DONATIONS

SUGAR CHECKS IN CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Lars Rydén, Karolinska Institutet SEK 1.5 M / 1 YEAR Dysglycaemia (glucose metabolism disorder) is due to a reduced capacity to both recognise and produce insulin (reduced insulin sensitivity and deficient beta cell function). This can lead to impaired glucose tolerance and, if it worsens, to type 2 diabetes. Both impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes increase the risk of cardiovascular complications and both conditions are found early in the development of dysglycaemia.

It is important to discover the signs of a dysglycaemic state, not least in individuals with established cardiovascular disease. The development of glucose-lowering drugs with cardiovascular ­protective properties has made this even more significant.

Nearly two thirds of patients with cardio­ vascular disease have impaired glucose ­tolerance or have developed type 2 diabetes without this ­ having been found previously. Many of these ­ patients would therefore benefit from glucose-lowering drugs, but despite this few ­ ­patients have their ability to metabolise glucose analysed. One reason may be that traditional analysis is time-consuming for the patient.

In the project Lars Rydén and his colleague Giulia Ferrannini want to investigate w ­ ­ hether a quick blood sample can be used to ­measure markers for insulin resistance along with a ­ ­measure of insulin-producing capacity, ­thereby achieving simpler and more accurate ­screening.

The ­ project will investigate a large group of ­patients with established cardiovascular disease but without known dysglycaemia.

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Tuition &

Education

SEK 25 M / 6 YEARS

A HOME FOR SWEDISH GASTRONOMY Carl Jan Granqvist is the founder of the recently established foundation Aptitum Akademi Saxå Bruk. The foundation is to highlight food as an aesthetic experience with the focus on pleasure, in the hope that this will develop enterprises associated with food, hospitality and tourism.

You describe Aptitum Akademi as ‘a home for ­Swedish gastronomy’. Why is it needed?

Aptitum Akademi will become a physical home for those interested in food as an aesthetic experience, with the focus on pleasure. It is largely about bringing ­together, educating and developing Swedish ­businesses.

By working with six areas of business which have gastro­nomy as a common feature, Aptitum Akademi will help to inspire and improve skills in many sectors: agriculture, the food industry, grocery retail, tourism and those working in hospitality and lodging. This ­extends right through to professionals in these sectors and private individuals who want to develop their gastronomic skills.

Saxå Bruk is situated close to the School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Food Science on ­ the Grythyttan Campus, which provides a­cademic courses. The Grythyttan Campus is a centre for ­ foundation education and research, and has built up one of the world’s foremost gastronomic libraries. ­Aptitum Akademi is not a competing institution, but will r­ ather develop knowledge and skills that open up greater opportunities for the industry. As I said, we’re going to highlight food as an aesthetic experience with the focus on pleasure.

Isn’t Sweden pretty good at gastronomy already?

Absolutely! We have 19 restaurants in the ­Michelin Guide, for example. But in Denmark – where the pop­ ul­ation is only half that of Sweden – there are 27.

Why do you think that is?

There are a number of reasons. We have a collective

42

t­ radition here that is based on science and t­ echnology, with strict standards as to what we are and are not ­allowed to do. Our entire relationship with food is characterised by the fact that Sweden is situated in a ­climate zone where traditionally we have to stock up supplies to survive the winter. That has brought with it a norm: a moral framework that determines what we are allowed to eat, how we may enjoy it and what it must cost. We are supposed to eat up and be grateful.

Whenever we eat something delicious it’s associated with a certain amount of guilt. And this legacy has influenced developments in gastronomy.

Sweden has orientated itself towards producing volume rather than excellence, even though we have a unique platform for producing fantastic foods. We have plenty of precipitation and, thanks to the ice sheet, the world’s youngest soils. We also have midnight sun that gives us more hours of sunlight than Bordeaux. ­Finally, we can thank the Gulf Stream for the fact that we do not have an Arctic climate.

In the Latin world food has an obvious status: it’s an art that is practised daily. Just like literature, visual art and music, gastronomy is a natural part of the culture.

Is it possible to make gastronomy an art form here in Sweden too?

Yes, and that’s why Aptitum Akademi is needed. The foundation focuses on six areas of Swedish business that have a link with gastronomy.

The first is agriculture – our primary produce has to be good.

Number two is the food industry. Sweden is ­actually the best place in the world in which to grow

Aptitum Akademi will develop Sweden’s gastronomic expertise.

43

food, but almost nobody in Sweden knows it. But the Swedish food industry can make many more top ­products, not just bulk goods.

The third element is grocery retail. If we can help and inspire those working in grocery retail through education, they can become better at helping their customers – such as young people who want to make non-alcoholic carbonated drinks from fresh vegetables.

The fourth is the tourism industry, which is my own background.

The fifth sector is hospitality and ­ lodging.

The foundation wants to build up more in-depth education in this area, with master’s degrees for those working in the restaurant industry and in lodging. If they learn, as in many other countries, to make our food culture into an artistic experience, hospitality will be more interesting and more valuable.

The sixth element is the public – people who enjoy gastronomy. Aptitum Akademi will be there for them too, so that they can take courses in making fantastic sauces, in baking and other things.

These are the six areas that the foundation is to ­develop through education. Not academic activities, but rather an attempt to provide deeper knowledge that reinforces these sectors.

So there is a clear link between gastronomy and the economy?

Yes, because gastronomy is a cultural experience. Today people value experiences more than material things. The majority of Europe’s GDP now comes from e­ xperiences associated with culture. Swedish gastronomy is a global success, a phenomenon. Before the pandemic Sweden earned over SEK 100 billion from people who came

here to experience it. That’s more than forestry exports.

Politicians need to have a better understanding of that.

We need to evangelise so that they realise how ­important gastronomy actually is.

In recent times there has been a great focus on the link between food and health. What’s your view on that?

At the moment more than 80 books on food and health are published every month. But a ‘delicious meal’ is not just about a good or bad diet. Sweden has been affected by this concentration on nutrition. There is extensive research on the gut’s ability to digest carbohydrates, fats and proteins. But why isn’t anyone talking about food that makes you happy and feel good? We need research into nutrition, but Aptitum centres on food as an art form, an experience.

What does the donation from the Erling-Persson Foundation mean to Aptitum Akademi?

It is essential in enabling the foundation to get ­under way and to plan for sufficient activities. Aptitum Akademi is starting by taking over the property Saxå Bruk, which consists of 200 ­hectares of land and 13 buildings. We are setting up an office and employing a curator, an administrative assistant and a managing director. The foundation will also have three advisory boards linked to it: a European board, a Nordic board and a Swedish one. These will play an important part in the creation of courses focusing on gastronomy that are designed for Swedish businesses. In early summer tourism activities will start and course activities will start in the autumn.

100

19

3

Before the pandemic Sweden earned over SEK 100 billion from people who came here to experience the country’s gastronomy.

That’s more than forestry exports.

The number of restaurants in Sweden included in the Michelin Guide, but there is potential for more.

The number of advisory boards that the foundation Aptitum Akademi Saxå Bruk will work with: one board each for European, Nordic and Swedish gastronomy.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: Aptitum Akademi Saxå Bruk, an independent foundation aimed at promoting and developing Swedish gastronomy as an art form.

Title: ‘A home for Swedish gastronomy’.

What it involves: Turning Saxå Bruk into a meetingplace where creative people within gastronomy can get together, be educated, and get ideas and energy.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 25 million over six years.

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Hugo Ticciati, O/Modernt’s Artistic Director.

SEK 3 M / 2 YEARS

AWARENESS OF AND THROUGH MUSIC Founder and artistic director of O/Modernt, Hugo Ticciati, has a holistic view of the performance and the experience of music – what he refers to as ‘musicking’. For the past decade he has fostered a concept that has turned into something quite unique in both the performing arts and in the education of young musicians. Ticciati tells us how music can link the past with the present and the future, how it invites the listener to be in the ‘now’, and how this might help us to embrace change.

What is O/Modernt?

O/Modernt (Swedish for ‘Un/Modern’) is, simply put, a creative way of music-making that aspires to ­awaken an innovative mode of listening. Since 2011, when the organisation was founded, the highlight of the year has been the summer Festival O/Modernt.

Here we gather a wonderful array of artists from around the world to share the stage with ­emerging talents for a week of ­ concerts and arts events at ­Ulriksdal Palace Theatre Confidencen in Stockholm.

Our flagship on the inter­national touring scene is the O/Modernt Chamber O ­ rchestra.

What makes O/Modernt stand out is an ­inclusive, boundary-free approach to music-making and to the arts more generally. By continuously exploring the ­artistic links between contemporary culture and the cultures of previous epochs, we find what connects people – irrespective of different times, distances and cultures.

­ rofound e­xperiences of beauty and creativity that p we hope will inspire an ever-expanding landscape of awakened ­perspectives.

What has O/Modernt been up to during 2021?

In 2021 Festival O/Modernt celebrated its tenth ­anniversary. With travel restrictions and quarantine requirements there was an unprecedented number of uncertainties along the way. With the unstinting support of sponsors and volunteers and the hard ­ work of the entire team, we managed to bring it off!

Internationally acclaimed artists, emerging talents and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra presented a colourful programme of six concerts, one of which was staged in London in partnership with the Wigmore Hall. We also collaborated with a digital platform to make the festival performances available as live streams.

Even though most of the past year’s scheduled concerts were postponed for future seasons, the ­ ­Chamber Orchestra was fortunate to perform in a number of special venues, notably the Berlin Konzert­ haus, Köln Philharmonie and Berwaldhallen.

O/Modernt Academy transitioned to an online format, which, though it lacked the irreplaceable ­element of in-person interaction, enabled us to reach and ‘interconnect’ students and speakers from across the globe. Our educational focus in 2021 was ­devoted to one of the world’s greatest living composers, the Estonian Arvo Pärt. Following a series of talks that explored Pärt’s universe and legacy, we travelled with 25 international students to the Arvo Pärt Centre for an immersive five-day study trip. It was a very powerful experience to meet one another in person, and the maestro himself.

What is your vision?

O/Modernt’s vision is the nurturing of new talent, and with the O/Modernt Academy we have established a unique education programme. Young musicians are not only mentored by world-class professionals in their respective instruments, they also get to meet some of the leading thinkers and voices of our time in a v­ ariety of fields. The programme offers a mindful learning environment that nourishes intellectual openness and creativity – one that stimulates collaboration and freedom of thought. We call it Interconnected Musicking.

The Academy will enable the next generation of ­artists to navigate the complexities of the future with greater awareness and share with their audience ­

47

What were your experiences of the pandemic and what is the hope for O/Modernt in 2022?

While the lack of concerts, rehearsal time and interaction with fellow musicians posed many questions, O/Modernt, as always, embraced the challenges with a positive spirit. The pandemic also offered us time to enquire deeply into our values and priorities.

This among other things led to developing our use of digital technology to reach a wider audience and to ­re-­evalu­ating how to rehearse and perform while travelling less, primarily through expanding our base of players and extending one-off concerts into ­residencies with educational components.

From an even broader perspective, it became clear that the future is largely unplannable. By embracing this we relearn that the only sure thing about e­ xistence is its impermanence. Living this realisation, we are drawn powerfully into an awareness of the present moment.

This feeds into our philosophy of performance p ­ ractice.

Participating in the flow of music, players and listeners are invited to share a moment where the past and the future unite in the present. Creating the c­ onditions in which everyone can lose themselves in the ‘now’ of a performance is what O/Modernt e­ndeavours to do every time we stand on stage. This is the greatest gift of music.

10

25

>40

In 2021 the chamber music ensemble celebrated its 10th anniversary. Thanks to digital technology a large audience was able to watch the anniversary programme despite the restrictions on live audiences resulting from the pandemic.

The number of international students who travelled during the summer to Estonia and the Arvo Pärt Centre, where they met and were inspired by Pärt himself, one of the world’s greatest living composers.

The number of new works commissioned by O/Modernt during its first 10 years.

The new works include short solopieces, full cantatas and symphonies.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: The O/Modernt Foundation Title: ‘The second decade of O/Modernt’.

What it involves: In brief, O/Modernt can be described as a creative way of making music which aims to invoke a new way of listening.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 3 million over two years.

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SEK 8.6 M / 2 YEARS

GAPMINDER UPGRADES OUR WORLDVIEW Ola Rosling chairs the Gapminder Foundation, which has a way of presenting facts in an easily accessible and understandable way that has attracted great international attention. With support from the Erling-Persson Foundation they have scaled up their activities further, and are now seeing companies also begin to understand the benefits of fact-checking their worldview.

Gapminder has attracted a great deal of attention.

Bill Gates described ‘Factfulness’ as one of the most important books he has read and decided to hand it out free to all US college students in 2018. Can it go any further?

Yes, because the fundamental problem remains: ­people are not keeping up with the rapid ­changes in the world because the human brain is not ­particularly well suited to processing data. It means that nearly everyone has a view of the world that is constantly lagging 50–60 years behind the reality. Gapminder is needed for as long as people use ­inaccurate ­perceptions or out-of-date facts to u ­ nderstand the present.

But it sounds like a more or less impossible task to ‘update the human brain’?

It’s largely a matter of psychology. To get across a fact-based worldview you have to have a respectful relationship with the party that is doing the

“Nearly everyone has an image of the world that lags 50–60 years behind the reality.” l­earning, so to speak. After all, people are unwilling to acknowledge their mistakes. As soon as someone points out ignorance, people do everything possible to defend why there is nothing wrong with being wrong, and why actually they weren’t wrong at all.

And so on. That is actually the greatest barrier.

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But aren’t there many who are good at spreading up-to-date facts today?

To put it bluntly, I think this is a real problem. It ­remains because no market force seems to have an incentive to change it. News bodies like CNN or the BBC ought to be able to fix this, because they are communicating with people all the time. Yet they seem to be contributing to cementing things. When we meet journalists from big media companies they are also mistaken about what the world is actually like.

“To get across a factbased worldview you have to have a respectful relationship with the party doing the learning.”

So everyone is wrong?

If there are any people who are not wrong about the world, it is generally the leaders of international ­corporations. The big commercial forces, those at the very top of global companies, become successful by being right. They have an incentive. But the rest of society seems to prefer to be wrong about the world. Then they can embellish their own role, cementing former glories. In the past Europe was ahead of everyone else. It feels so good to go round believing that, that we kind of don’t want to hear anything else. In our fixed view of ourselves and the world around us nothing has happened in, say, ­Africa for many decades.

OL A ROSLING

“This project is unique in human history. Never before has it been possible to test what people think about things in such volumes.

But thanks to the internet and online panels, over the past two years we’ve been able to ask 8,000 newly formulated factual questions about the world.”

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Gapminder did not disappear when Hans Rosling died. Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund continue to realise its ideas.

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How can Gapminder change that?

Before this project started we were in a development phase. We also received support from the Erling-­ Persson Foundation then. The book ‘Factfulness’, for example, starts with something we call The Gapminder Test, which we were able to design with the assistance of that ­donation. It is a fact test ­consisting of 13 questions. Those taking the test can then ­compare their answers with the average in a total of 14 countries.

In our earlier work we measured the public’s knowledge about global development. It emerged that there was huge ignorance of basic facts about the world. That led to the idea of developing teach-

“As well as schools and teachers, we can also reach companies and their leaders, who want both employees and the public to have an up-to-date, fact-based worldview.” ing aids that teachers in lots of countries could use.

However, producing these proved harder than we thought. Having made this attempt, however, we are now convinced that we can go even further with our model. As well as schools and teachers, we can also reach companies and their leaders, who want both employees and the public to have an up-to-date, fact-based worldview.

Now we get invited to global companies,­ ­teaching conferences and all kinds of contexts. There is interest from every part of society. The c­ hallenge now is to build a tool that can be used without us needing to travel and give presentations, like my ­father did.

It was to enable us to take this step that we ­received a new donation from the Erling-Persson Foundation for the project period 2020–2021, which we called ‘The Scaling ­Phase’.

first preliminary results show that people are just as ignorant about basic facts in these areas as they are about global development – particularly if these facts indicate a positive trend. Anyway, that is one branch of Gapminder’s new scaling phase: asking masses of questions in new areas and checking the answers against actual facts. Really interesting things emerge. We asked questions such as ‘How many airports do you think there are in Panama?’. There are somewhere around 60 small private airfields. And people guess two! Or take the question ‘How many amusement parks are there in Pakistan?’. None, most people think. But there are four! This project is unique in human history. Never before has it been possible to test what people think about things in such volumes. But thanks to the internet and online panels, over the past two years we have been able to ask 8,000 newly formulated factual questions about the world.

One part of the ‘scaling phase’ was therefore to measure knowledge and gather facts in more areas. What was the other part?

The second element of the scaling phase focused on making all this knowledge available. At the end of 2020 we published an online service called Worldview Upgrader. It’s a platform full of educational materials on various subjects where you can answer questions and then find out straight away ­whether your worldview accords with the actual facts. As

“The gap between what people think and actual facts can open a window so that the person actually wants to find out more.”

I said, most people give the wrong answers – but that’s precisely what’s interesting about it. The gap between what people think and actual facts can open a window so that the person actually wants to find out more.

But if Gapminder grows, won’t your need for ­donations also grow?

No, we don’t think so. Of course, we want our ­services to remain free for ordinary people. How­ ever, we are seeing many companies now d ­ iscovering the value of understanding the world and gaining collective knowledge. They have a genuine interest, which is obvious when you think about it: if you’re going to build strategies for the future and your ­employees have things completely wrong, it’s going

What have you done that is new?

We’ve scaled up in various ways. And when we expand our field, we come across even more ­ ­ignorance and more misconceptions. In line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our main focus will be on sustainability. We have also started measuring general knowledge about such things as migration, African business, gender and the world market, together with experts in each area. The very

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to be extremely difficult! That’s why we predict that more and more companies will choose to pay for our training and tools as we grow.

What has the support from the Erling-Persson Foundation meant to Gapminder?

We first received support when Hans was still alive.

That paid for the development of the ­ teaching ­materials we made just before he passed away. Then Hans died and we received a new donation that

e­nabled us to drive Gapminder further and manage Hans’s legacy, the popular education legacy. We had all the visions – we had developed them with Hans – but the fact that we were able to continue realising them is largely thanks to the funding from the Erling-­ Persson Foundation. The Foundation believed in the idea itself, rather than thinking that Gapminder disappeared with Hans. Thanks to that we are still here, to sum it up in simple terms.

15,000

19

765,000

The number of factual questions that the Gapminder team has tested on the public to find the areas where there are gaps in knowledge or where knowledge is outdated. Thousands of questions were identified that users get wrong more often than when answers are generated at random.

Gapminder has developed niche knowledge tests for areas such as global warming, women managers, threatened species and many more. In total there are now 19 different tests making up Worldview Upgrader.

The number of users of Worldview Upgrader up to and including December 2021. Worldview Upgrader is a tool for education that is freely available on the web and where users can test their knowledge about global and sustainable development.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: Gapminder Foundation – an independent educational organisation founded by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund. Gapminder’s mission is to fight devastating ignorance with a fact-based worldview everyone can understand.

Title: ‘Global Factfulness Project – The Scaling Phase’.

What it involves: Creating a large number of questions in areas where there is great ignorance, compiling them into subject tests and making these widely available online. The project also includes developing a business model that can finance Gapminder’s Factfulness project in the future.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 8.6 million over two years; donated 2019, active 2020–2021.

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Development

of Children

56

SEK 3.6 M / 2 YEARS

MENTORING PROGRAMME WITH MEASURABLE RESULTS Mentor provides teenagers with the opportunity to meet adult role models from outside their family and friendship circle.

The organisation also has initiatives in ‘focus schools’ in socioeconomically vulnerable areas – providing a presence both during lesson times and breaks, to reach young people who would otherwise be hard to have contact with. The overall aim is to contribute to a world where young people are empowered to make healthy decisions and live drug-free.

Cecilia Bernard, Secretary General of Mentor, can you briefly describe your activities?

Mentor was founded by Queen Silvia of Sweden and the World Health Organization 26 years ago. Its ­vision was, and still is, a world where young people are ­empowered to make healthy decisions and live drugfree. Good role models increase the chances of young people making good choices themselves.

vulnerable areas of Stockholm, Gothenburg and ­Malmö. We are present in various ways both during lesson times and in the breaks, and get to know each other. We interview those who are interested so that we can understand what type of mentor would be the best match.

“It’s entirely voluntary on both sides. They commit to meeting twice a month over a period of six months.”

How does mentorship work in purely practical terms?

Our mentor programme matches up a teenager with an adult. It is entirely voluntary on both sides and they commit to meeting twice a month over a period of six months. So 12 meetings in total.

Some might want a mentor because they’re ­interested in someone’s profession or what they did to develop their career. Others may be wondering about their identity and want to have someone to talk to around that. Or they may have a particular leisure interest and would like to meet an adult who matches on that score. There are a huge number of different reasons.

How is the matching done?

These are two people who do not know each other beforehand, so we have a matching process based on them having at least three matching data points. It’s important that they can identify with each other, and each see a bit of themselves in the other. That ­produces the best results. If the match is right, the two often ­continue meeting even after the mentoring programme has officially ended.

And the mentors – how do you find them?

We find them in all kinds of ways. Most of them know someone who has been a mentor, who recommends that they try it. But of course, it’s a bit harder to get accepted as a mentor than as a mentored youngster. We conduct two rounds of interviews, obtain r­eferences and carry out a criminal records check. After that they all complete our digital training, which is made up of various modules. But it’s by no means certain that we will find a young person for each person who wants to become a mentor. It’s always the needs of the young person that decides, and that means we need to have more mentors than young people in our bank.

How do the young people find their way to you?

Any young person can approach Mentor. And they do – all kinds of young people. Sometimes parents contact us too, if perhaps they think it would be good for their youngsters to have an opportunity to meet someone who could be a role model from outside their circle of family and friends.

We also actively seek out young people. Today ­Mentor has eight ‘focus schools’ in s­ ocioeconomically

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Cecilia Bernard, Secretary General of Mentor, visiting a school.

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Why do you think they want to become mentors?

Many go into mentoring because they feel they want to give something back and because they’re curious about the younger generation. But afterwards, quite often they find they’ve learnt just as much about themselves or have gained completely new insight into what ­Sweden is like today, for example. Mentoring is ­extremely rewarding for the mentor too.

“Today we have eight schools in various focus areas.

Obviously I’d like to have 80!”

What’s the supply and demand situation – do you have enough mentors relative to the needs among young people?

We always need more mentors. People have a lot of trust in us and through the focus schools we have gained important new contacts with young people who want to have mentors. But our activities involve more than just the mentoring programme. Among other things, we go out into the schools and give classes something we call Mentor Boost. That involves a Mentor employee coming and talking about issues such as ‘Who do I want to be?’ and ‘What do I want to become?’. They u ­ sually also take volunteers with them – adults who want to find out more about ­becoming a mentor but have not yet actually taken that step. They might go along to one of our focus schools for the ­morning, meet the young people and help lead ­discussion groups. In ­December, for example, ­ employees from the Erling-Persson ­Foundation and H&M came along to Järva school with us as ­volunteers. We also hold s­ummer camps, and of course adult role models are needed there.

Are there any areas of Mentor’s activities that are aimed at adults – parents, for example?

Yes, we have various kinds of parent programmes. ­P­reviously we only had courses and talks that ­people came to in person, with the participants coming from Mentor’s partner companies. Now these ­ courses in ‘teenager skills’ are digital and open to all. For ­example, we’ve had panel discussions on subjects such as the new drugs landscape, and online hate. Others are more targeted, like the series of talks we did in ­Arabic, about how to find your identity and your place in society when you’re not part of the majority culture.

That was incredibly popular. We had participants from all over Europe attending via Facebook.

What does the future look like for Mentor?

Today we have eight schools in our focus areas.

Obviously I’d like to have 80! It’s the same with ­ the number of mentors – naturally we want to have more. But it demands a lot of work. Our criteria and ­selection processes are rigorous. But at the same time, there is reason not to scale up too quickly – even if the ­resources were there. By working closely and in isolation with the focus schools we can measure effects in a way we were not able to previously. That’s the holy grail, you could say: being able to show in black and white how our activities – and thus the resources we’ve been given – make a difference to the young people.

What challenges do you see?

One thing that concerns me is that the world is becoming more drug-liberal. Although the statistics ­ show that ­average drug use is not increasing among young p ­ eople, there is a clear shift in attitudes. What’s

“Although the statistics show that drug use is not increasing, there is a clear shift in attitudes.”

Is having focus schools something new for you?

Yes, we started it on a small scale a year and a half ago.

And now it’s grown to involve eight schools in various municipalities.

How and why do you choose the particular schools you work with?

The basic requirement is that it is a secondary school or upper secondary school that is situated in a socio­ economically vulnerable area. We also need to have good contact with the school’s leadership. There needs to be someone who is committed to, and believes in, Mentor’s approach – often a welfare officer, deputy head or similar.

more, the internet has made it considerably easier to get hold of drugs. That worries me, because changed attitudes and greater access heighten the risk that use will increase.

What does the support from the Erling-Persson ­Foundation mean to Mentor?

It means everything! It’s commitment is both longterm and in-depth. Enterprises like ours often apply for funding for fairly short periods. Often for a year at a time, or in the best case up to three years. That can make it difficult to plan for the long term, where

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What should an adult do if they want to become a mentor?

They just have go to mentor.se and fill in a form there.

They will then be contacted by us and the process will start, with interviews, criminal records checks, getting references and so on.

staffing and so on is concerned. The support from the Erling-Persson Foundation is long-term, recurring, ­secure and stable. It provides an incredibly good basis for thinking long-term, developing the activities and making a measurable difference.

Do you have any tips for a young person who is trying to find their way in life?

Yes, be brave and ask questions. Often young p ­ eople think that everyone else knows and it feels ­embarrassing to show your uncertainty or ignorance. But it’s always better to ask once too often than not enough.

What’s more, in actual fact a young person’s question or ­observation may help the adult to see something they’ve missed or taken for granted. The question often provides an opportunity for both ­parties to develop.

2.5

91%

13–17

Since it started in 1994 Mentor has reached two and a half million children and young people through its various activities.

91% of the students who took part in Mentor Inspo thought the activity was good. Mentor Inspo provides two hours of digital inspiration where students meet people who inspire them from various jobs and with different social and cultural backgrounds.

The individual mentoring programme is aimed at young people aged between 13 and 17.

Over a period of six months or a year the young person meets with their mentor around twice a month.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: Mentor Sweden – a non-profit organisation that offers mentoring programmes for young people aged from 13 to 17, to support them in choosing a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Title: ‘Giving young people the power to grow!’.

What it involves: Recruiting both young people and adults to programmes that, through preventive work, boost young people’s self-esteem, motivate them to study, give them insight into working life and help them set goals for the future.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 3.6 million over two years; donated 2020, active 2021–22.

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SEK 4.73 M / 3 YEARS

LONG-TERM GOOD IN VULNERABLE AREAS In Stockholm county around 90,000 children and young people live in socioeconomically vulnerable areas. Surveys show that they are the ones with most to gain from Scouting – but they are also the hardest to reach. In ‘Scouting for all’ the Scouts are implementing four school and leisure initiatives to make outdoor life more accessible and reduce exclusion.

The Scouts are a movement that has been around for a long time. Many people have heard of you, but perhaps they don’t know much about what you do these days. How would you describe it?

Membership development manager Elisabeth Dane­fjäll: We work with children and young people, mainly aged 7 to 25. Here in the Nordics many people p ­ robably ­associate Scouting with the outdoor life: sleeping ­under canvas and going to Scout camps. And yes, we do that – but the purpose of it all is for children and young people to learn leadership skills, to act as a group and to dare to test their limits. Scouting gives them tools, values, courage and the ability to act so that they can go out and change the world, in both big things and small. In our vision we refer to young people becoming ‘world improvers’.

Emma Berggren, project manager for ‘Own your ­nature’: Another important thing is that there ­really is room for everyone in our organisation and in the activities we do. Scouting covers a vast arena.

Compare it with playing football, for example, ­ where you have to be good at one thing, i.e. football.

In the Scouts you don’t have to be good at a s­ pecific thing in order to fit in. We do so much. There’s ­always something you can be good at with us. That’s hugely important, and really good.

Elisabeth: Also, Scouting is global. There are 60 million Scouts in the world. That creates a feeling of belonging. So in addition to the individual p ­ erspective, there is also a social perspective. I would say that the Scouts help to build up and maintain democratic, peaceful communities. With all the currents that exist today, we are more relevant than ever.

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Tell us about the project ‘Scouting for all’. What’s the idea behind it?

Elisabeth: It’s clearly linked to both these p ­ erspectives; the individual and the overall social perspective. For us it’s important to be there for all children and young people in Sweden. At the same time, we’ve n ­ oticed that we are still more of a presence in the places where the usual traditional clubs and associations are ­established.

“If the children aren’t coming to Scouts, then we’ll go to the children.”

It’s not so easy to find us in vulnerable ­areas. So if the children aren’t coming to Scouts, then we’ll go to the children. That’s why we’re now going to them in schools, because all children are there.

Emma: We started in Husby, with two schools.

We would rather concentrate our efforts on one place than dabble a bit here and there. It’s vitally important that we don’t just go there but that we stay there for the children and young people who we have actually engaged. Naturally we hope to be able to spread this to more places. We already have an entry into another school in an area where the Scouts have found it hard to recruit and we hope to start working with that in the next step.

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“Be prepared!” In the Scouts everyone can contribute.

Left: Emma Berggren, project manager for ‘Own your nature’, provides guidance.

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Under ‘Scouting for all’ you have two sub-projects.

Let’s start with ‘Own your nature’. What’s that all about?

Emma: ‘Own your nature’ is a project we started back in the autumn term of 2019. It started with students in years 4–9 from Akademiska skolan and Fryshuset

“I would say that the Scouts help to build up and maintain democratic, peaceful communities.” elementary school in the west of Husby being able to choose Scouting as an ‘elective’ activity during lesson time. We were also able to hold outdoor days, campouts and family excursions. It went really well and the results were great. Then we also started working with Husbygård school and municipal leisure services in Rinkeby-Kista. Last autumn we also began ­inviting pupils in years 2–6 who go to Husbygård school’s ­after-school activities.

It’s sounds like it all gone really well so far?

Elisabeth: Yes, definitely! Nine out of ten feel taking part in Scouting activities has been helpful, that it’s been fun to try new things and that they’ve got better at working with others. Eight out of ten feel safer in nature and have more confidence in their ability to cope with things.

I assume that many of these children’s parents grew up in other countries. Are many of them familiar with the Scouts from their own childhood?

Emma: Sometimes they are, sometimes not. I’ve met lots of parents who talk about Scouting and tell us they were Scouts when they were younger. But there are also many who don’t know the Scouts at all. When I was at an activity day in the main square in Rinkeby lots of people came to see what was going on – both children and adults. The parents see pretty quickly that it seems good for the children, but they don’t really know who we are. And even if some of them have seen the North Järva Scout group at Husby Gård, they may not have thought about whether it might be something for them, that they would be welcome too. I think that’s the real problem.

Elisabeth: Yes. We haven’t measured this. What we do know is that more than 81 percent of everyone in Sweden has heard of the Scouts. But we have noticed that awareness is definitely lower in Husby.

Tell us about the second sub-project, ‘Daycamp ­adventure’. What’s that?

Elisabeth: It’s a project in which we’re offering 20 young people in the same area a summer job for three weeks. The first week consists of leadership training.

They then spend two weeks working as leaders at Scout camps. During their training week they complete a basic course in how to be a good Scout leader. They’ll be given specific tools and we’ll talk a great deal about the role of leader – for example, that as a leader you are often an important role model for younger ­children. In the second and third weeks they work with the ­children that Emma has got to know in the school project, the school’s leisure activities and at Scout daycamps. I think it’s enormously valuable for a young person to find out that there are people who believe in them, that they have the capacity to cope with leading maybe 20 children in games and Scouting activities.

How did the idea come about?

Elisabeth: It comes from the young people themselves, from those who have met us during the two years that ‘Scouting for all’ has been running. We haven’t offered holiday jobs before. But why not? ‘Daycamp ­adventure’ is a way of testing how the Scouts can find more ways to reach children and young people.

Emma: There’s another important aspect too.

Quite a lot of organisations and businesses go into

“The idea comes from the young people themselves.

We haven’t offered holiday jobs before. But why not?” v­ulnerable areas. They do something for a short time, but very quickly disappear again. The children get quite a lot, but it’s also taken away from them.

I ­personally thought that was a very tough thing to ­experience. I want the Scouts to do good in the long term. I feel enormous pride in the fact that the Scouts actually l­istened to that, that lots of us want to make this part of our usual activities.

Also, Elisabeth and I are employees, but most Scout work is built on volunteering. Working with children and young people is hugely rewarding and ­energising, but it’s also extremely demanding. Everyone who ­ volunteers for the Scouts really deserves praise. Without them, the Scouts wouldn’t exist.

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What has the donation from the Erling-Persson ­Foundation meant to the Scouts and to ‘Scouting for all’?

Emma: Security! It feels really nice. Lots of young ­people ask me about things they want to do. But many are also afraid that I’ll leave and the Scouts will disappear again. They’re so used to people coming and going. Now it feels really good to be able to say that we’re here to stay, for a long time.

Elisabeth: It allows us to do all this that we’ve talked about. But it also gives us the time and space to explore more ways of working together.

Emma: The funding means we can also employ another person who will work on ‘Daycamp a­ dventure’.

That is enormously pleasing. Now we’ll be able to try new things that include more target groups.

stand them because they were able to talk to Emma, for example – conversations that they wouldn’t have dared have with anyone else. Of course, I don’t think it’s all down to the Scouts. It’s the combined effect of all the clubs and so on that exist.

How do you see the Scouts’ role in the future, overall?

Elisabeth: The next thing to work on for the whole community must be children’s and young people’s mental wellbeing. We all need to take responsibility and the traditional clubs and the Scouts have an ­important role to play in this. I often meet people from what is frequently referred to as the first line – organisations such as BRIS, Friends and the like, who the children can call when they have problems. They say ‘Oh, the Scouts – you’re there even before the first line. You’re there for these children every day, creating security’.

I think of all the summer camps where I’ve often stood in the kitchen peeling potatoes with different children. Some of them might have been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. I think of children who on the first day of camp are a little hesitant and don’t really find their place. Then, after a week there, you just see that the child is joining in and it’s all so natural. It’s that feeling of understanding that we’re all different, but that everyone can contribute. It’s a fantastic feeling.

If we were to travel forward 10 years in time, what would you hope to see in Husby then?

Emma: By then ‘my’ children will be grown up and might have children of their own. I hope that by then they’ll think it perfectly natural to get out into nature.

Not strange or dangerous, as it might have felt before the Scouts came here.

Elisabeth: I think our preventive work has made a big difference. There are many forces pushing and ­pulling on these young people, not all of which are good. I think some have been brave enough to with-

76,000

8

1,000

The number of Scout members in Sweden. The Scouts are active in 220 of the country’s 290 municipalities.

Many joined the Scouts during the pandemic. In 2020 the Scouts in Sweden gained eight new members a day. During the pandemic lots of people were out in nature much more than usual. Interest in nature has increased.

The Scouts are a nationwide organisation of more than 1,000 Scout troops with an active offering for children and young people – from Gällivare in the north to Trelleborg in the south.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: Scouts Title: ‘Scouting for all’, including sub-projects ‘Own your nature’ and ‘Daycamp adventure’.

What it involves: Reaching out into socioeconomically vulnerable areas, with new groups of children and young people and their parents. ‘Own your nature’ offers Scouting activities during school term time. ‘Daycamp adventure’ offers young people training in leadership followed by a holiday job as a Scout leader at Scout day camps, where they can become positive role models for younger children in the area.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with a total of SEK 4.73 million over three years.

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SEK 2.5 M / 1 YEAR

MOVEMENT GETS YOUNG PEOPLE FIT FOR LIFE Life habits form early. The earlier children begin exploring physical activity, the greater the likelihood that they will continue to enjoy exercise throughout their lives. Generation Pep has seen clearly that the pandemic has made it harder than usual for young people to get moving in their daily lives.

Carolina Klüft, operations manager at Generation Pep – why is it so important for children and young people to get moving?

It’s extremely important for us all, both children and adults. Our bodies are designed to be in motion. But physical activity has become quite a challenge in today’s society. Sitting still and sedentary activities ­ have a negative impact on our health – both at an ­individual level and for society in general. Many who would not otherwise become sick now run a greater risk of developing illnesses, or at least feeling that life is becoming a bit more hard work. Physical activity, in contrast, reduces the risk of a number of illnesses. It also improves wellbeing.

The reason why we at Generation Pep focus on children and young people is of course because life ­habits form early. The earlier that children begin ­exploring and discovering different types of ­physical activity, the greater the likelihood that they will ­continue to enjoy exercise, be self-confident and dare to challenge their bodies throughout their lives.

Moreover, children have a right to good health under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ­ which is law in Sweden. Unfortunately, at the moment only some children are getting access to what they need.

It is far from equal.

So what do you do – in concrete terms – to get ­children and young people moving about more?

Our primary mission is to change society at a s­ tructural level. We do not get involved in what political decisions should be made, but try to highlight the issue and its importance. There is a lot we can do to make it e­ asier

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for children and young people and to create more equal health.

One thing we do is to work very widely to provide guidance and spread knowledge through preschools and schools. Digital tools are one way we do this.

“Our bodies are designed to be in motion. But physical activity has become quite a challenge in today’s society.”

We also work to influence decision-makers, so that they understand how important it is to prioritise ­physical activity. That’s why each year we create a Pep report that reports the current facts. We also have an annual convention – the Pep Forum – for participants from the public sector, non-profit organisations and businesses. Usually around a thousand people come along to attend talks, learn and be inspired.

But you also work directly with the young people?

Yes, in that we try to make it easier for them to make healthy choices and inspire them to engage in ­physical activity. It might involve building a Pep park – an ­activity area that is accessible to children and young people. Or holding a Pep day, which is an activity day when children and their families can try out different activities.

We also support schools and clubs in making healthy choices, such as changing the products on offer in the school cafeteria or from the kiosk at a

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periods. We really don’t want to grab the screens out of children’s hands, but we have to start talking about the downsides. That it has consequences for public health.

And, of course, socioeconomic factors also play a part. Not everyone has access to clubs, the need for ­physical activity is not being satisfied in school, ­unsafe environments mean people don’t go out and there can be c­ ultural barriers that mean it is not that easy to be active.

There are also quite large differences between ­children and young people. The younger ones move about more. Then comes a breakpoint, towards the end of primary school or at secondary school, where there is an enormous drop.

I often meet young people who do not feel at home doing exercise or sport. The sports movement – which is nevertheless fantastic – is something that some can feel very excluded from.

We’ve just done a study into this in which a ­researcher at Karolinska Institutet interviewed teen­ agers. The aim was to understand what the young ­people see as obstacles to physical activity, but also what they see as the key. The final report is not ready yet, but we hope to get lots of answers that can help us find solutions and initiatives. Even if we try to create system change in society, where the responsibility lies with us adults, we have to listen to and understand our target group: our children and young people.

sports club. In addition to this we work in partnership with many others – such as the leisure library Fritidsbanken, which is a fantastic organisation that lends equipment for leisure activities to people free of charge at over a hundred locations around the country. We’re helping them become more visible and spread their message.

Have you noticed your work having an effect?

In the short term, unfortunately we can’t see any clear improvement in our surveys. But this is a long-term job. It’s unfortunate that we’ve also had a long p ­ eriod of pandemic, when many who were already sitting around a lot have moved even less.

“Many who were already sitting around a lot have moved even less during the pandemic.”

But at the same time, it’s clear that the pandemic has meant that these issues have had if not a breakthrough, then at least more attention. Both decision-makers and ordinary people seem to have thought more about the importance of their life habits.

During the year the government appointed a ­committee to promote physical activity. That’s a posi­ tive thing, even if we have yet to see what comes of it.

We’ve also got a government initiative looking at how the food industry could contribute to a development towards healthier diets.

Things are also happening at a local and m ­ unicipal level. Various municipalities have joined in with our ­pilot project, Pep Kommun, where we work together to create good support materials to help the municipalities to work more effectively on children’s and young people’s health and exercise.

Can you tell us a bit about ‘Project Assist’, your leader­ship initiative within basketball?

Waiting lists for basketball clubs are growing throughout the whole of Sweden. Along with the Swedish

“Along with the Swedish Basketball Federation we’re going to train 500 new leaders aged from 15 to 25.”

Are there any particular obstacles stopping children and young people from being able to move about more and feel better?

It’s clear that there are forces in society that are a­ ctually working against such development. Both norms and, for example, the range of unhealthy food on offer has changed a lot, and over a long period. We have seen a drastic reduction in movement in everyday life. I’m not talking now about fitness trends and the like, but rather about walking about and moving ­ naturally in various ways. In the past, many children cycled to and from school. That has reduced by more than 50 ­percent in just 20 years.

The digital shift is, of course, a challenge. Today many find their adventures while sitting down for long

Basketball Federation we are going to train 500 new leaders aged from 15 to 25. The idea for our part is that these young people will help the clubs take on more children, but also that their training will have a longer-term effect. Whether or not they stay within basketball, we hope that they will continue to use their sporting and leadership skills in a way that spreads out like rings on water.

What does the support from the Erling-Persson ­Foundation mean to Generation Pep? Generation Pep has had support from the Erling-­ Persson Foundation as a founding partner since it started in 2016. The Foundation’s involvement and

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support has been incredibly important. Having sound and stable financing means we don’t need to spend ­valuable time hunting for members or fundraising. ­Instead we can put all our efforts into creating system change.

Some of the funding will go directly to ‘Project ­Assist’, i.e. the basketball project I was just telling you about. That’s particularly exciting because basketball is the most gender-equal sport in Sweden. Basketball can be found everywhere, and many children and young people see it as more of a lifestyle than just a sport in which they play matches and chase points. It’s going to be incredibly exciting to follow this project and see what long-term effects it has.

young people would feel a sense of community and enjoy movement, both in preschool and school and in their leisure time. I’d like a society that prepares us well to cope with life’s challenges.

I may have been an elite athlete myself, but this is nothing to do with creating the conditions for new sports stars. Those who want to become sports stars

How do you yourself view the future?

Personally I’m dreaming big – I see physical activity being an entirely natural part of our society, with lowered thresholds enabling everyone to get moving whatever their situation. Where you were born, your parents’ level of education, any disabilities or budget constraints would be irrelevant – all children and

are welcome to do so, but this is about providing a firm foundation so that people have the energy to deal with the ups and downs of life, can go to work and handle conflict or stress and anything else that crops up.

Quite simply, a future in which Generation Pep won’t be needed. Then we can wind up our activities.

“We really don’t want to grab the screens out of children’s hands, but we have to start talking about the downsides.”

2 in 10

30%

>50%

The number of children and young people who achieve the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day.

The 2021 Pep report states that 30% of children and young people say their screen time increased during the pandemic.

Just over half of the children and young people surveyed want to have more sports teaching in school than they get at present.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: Generation Pep – a non-profit organisation working to engage the whole of society in children’s and young people’s health. The aim is to create the change needed to give everyone the opportunity and the will to live active and healthy lives.

Title: ‘A healthy start in life’ including the sub-project ‘Project Assist’ in partnership with the Swedish Basketball Federation.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the project with SEK 2.5 million over one year.

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The pandemic has prevented many people from moving about as much.

Pupils at the Alhanko Academy of Ballet.

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OTHER DONATIONS

SAVE THE CHILDREN & THE RED CROSS SEK 150 M In war and conflict children suffer p ­ articularly badly, and when the situation is acute it is important from the child’s perspective to help ­ both children and adults. Save the Children and the Red Cross provide humanitarian s­upport for people escaping the war in Ukraine and the ­ Erling-Persson Foundation is among those ­supporting them.

Save the Children works in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to provide p ­ sychosocial s­ upport, to distribute clothing and personal h ­ ygiene items, to give cash to families for basic necessities such as food, rent and medicines and in other ways.

In its work to help people affected by the conflict the Red Cross is carrying out ­ ­ medical efforts in Ukraine but also in neighbouring ­ countries. There will also be initiatives to help ­ ­refugees in Sweden.

“We feel it is a matter of great urgency to contribute via Save the Children and the Red Cross to the relief efforts being made to meet the needs arising from the war in Ukraine,” says ­ Stefan Persson, chair of the Erling-Persson Foundation.

In March 2022 the Erling-Persson Foundation made an initial donation of SEK 150 million for humanitarian aid in relation to the war in Ukraine. Of this SEK 150 million, SEK 75 million went to Save the Children and SEK 75 million to the Red Cross.

ERSTA VÄNDPUNKTEN SEK 300,000 / 1 YEAR Children growing up with relatives who have ­various kinds of addictions are used to everything centring on the addict’s feelings and problems. The shadow cast by the addiction means these young people have a greater risk of themselves suffering psychological difficulties or future m ­ ental health problems or of becoming addicts themselves.

At Ersta Vändpunkten the focus is on these relatives. Through efforts at many levels, Vändpunkten – meaning ‘turning point’ – works to ­enable these young people to have a functioning life as adults, with stable close relationships. In various activities the organisation makes contact with children at preschool age, as teenagers and as young adults.

CLOWNMEDICIN SEK 1.08 M / 1 YEAR Being ill and spending long periods in hospital is not something we want to associate with childhood. Nonetheless, children sometimes become seriously ill or have long-term illnesses. The situations they find themselves in are often a cause of great stress to the children and their f­ amilies, but being ill can also be monotonous and ­boring. A young life is put on hold, and possibly ­no-one ­really knows how long for. At such times e ­ ntertainment or distraction can be particularly ­ welcome, or perhaps the opportunity to ­experience something really special.

Clownmedicin provides professional clowns who visit sick children and their families in ­hospital. The aim is to spread joy and make life easier for the children, their siblings and parents and the staff, so that their time in hospital is not as hard.

MIN STORA DAG SEK 2 M / 2 YEARS The organisation Min Stora Dag (My Special Day) also works to give pleasure to children with ­serious illnesses and diagnoses. It’s concept is all about making the children’s dreams come true. On their special day the child gets to experience something they have dreamed of doing or gets to meet someone they admire, or to have fun with others who know what it’s like to be in their situation.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STEFAN PERSSON Chair of the Board. Born 1947.

1969–1973 Stockholm University and Lund University.

1976–1982 Country Manager for H&M in the UK and responsible for H&M’s expansion abroad.

1982–1998 President and CEO of H&M. 1998–2020 Chair of the Board at H&M. Other board positions at family companies.

ELISABETH TAMM Board member. Born 1947.

CHARLOTTE SÖDERSTRÖM Board member. Born 1977.

Elisabeth has degrees in law and business administration from Uppsala University. After a period as a notary she was employed at the Swedish Tax Agency in ­Stockholm. She has also been head of tax and family law at Carnegie and Ålandsbanken.

Charlotte studied market ­economics at IIU. Up until the age of 21 she was an active competition rider in equestrian sport and today she runs the Stuteri Arch stud farm in Skåne in Southern Sweden.

The stud farm breeds, trains and sells jumping horses and in 2019 and 2021 the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (Fédération Equestre Internationale – FEI) named her as its Owner of the Year. Charlotte is also project manager for the sponsorship project H&M We Love Horses.

Elisabeth is chair of or holds other positions of responsibility at a number of foundations, including the Alba ­Langenskiöld Foundation that is associated with publishing house Langenskiöld, the F ­ oundation for the Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, the Tranås Säteri Foundation and Sällskapet för Makarna Malmqvists minne.

Board member at family companies and of Haga Gårdsförvaltning.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

SIGBRIT FRANKE Board member. Born 1942.

TOM PERSSON Board member. Born 1985.

Sigbrit completed a doctorate in 1975 at the Department of Education at Umeå University. In 1978 she became an associate professor and in 1982 a professor of education.

For the 1987/1988 academic year she was a guest professor at UC Berkeley. Sigbrit was appointed vice-chancellor of Umeå University in 1992 and in 1999 became head of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education.

From 2008 to 2016 Tom studied at the European Business School and Metropolitan Film School in ­London. He subsequently worked on the production and financing of TV and film projects. Since 2016 Tom has run the investment company CoMade and works in the media. Alongside his own company he works with around 10 other companies in film, television and sound.

Board positions: Socialvetenskapliga forskningsrådet (SFR) (Swedish Research Council for Social Sciences); Stiftelsen för miljö­strategisk forskning (MISTRA) (Swedish ­Foundation for Strategic ­Environmental Research); Utbildningsveten­skap­liga ­kommittén, Veten­skapsrådet (chair) (the Swedish Research Council’s Committee for Educational Sciences); Forsknings­rådet för arbetsliv och socialvetenskap (FAS) (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare); the Swedish Medical ­Nano­science Center at Karolinska Institutet; ­Akademiska Hus (state-owned property company for universities and colleges); Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern (the Royal ­Dramatic Theatre) (chair); Lifco AB; the ­Supreme Education Council, Qatar; the educational and cultural foundation­ ­Längmanska kulturfonden (chair); Erik och Göran Ennerf­elts Stiftelse (a foundation that supports international study for young ­people); Sten A Olssons Stiftelse för Forskning och Kultur (the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture) (chair of the Donations Committee); Umeå University (UmU); Gymnastik och Idrotts­högskolan (the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences). Senior advisor to the management of Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Umeå University and the ­University of Skövde. Special commissioner: En ny lärar­utbildning (relating to teacher training).

Board member at family companies as well as, among others, the boards of Breakable Films AB, Unlimited stories AB, Soundtelling, Art & Bob AB and Naudio AB.

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MARI-ANNE CRONSIOE OREFORS Co-opted board member.

Born 1957.

Mari-Anne has a degree in economics from Stockholm University.

After graduating she worked for five years in H&M’s buying department. From 1985 to 2020 Mari-­Anne had a key role at the R ­ amsbury family office as accounts and ­administrative ­manager. ­Mari-Anne was involved in the formation of the Erling­ Persson Foundation and has also been part of the H&M Foundation since it was established in 2007.

Mari-Anne is on the board of the H&M ­Foundation and has been responsible for running the accounting and administrative side of the foundation during its first 20 years.

2021

GRANTS AWARDED The Erling-Persson Foundation

SCIENCE & RESE ARCH

Karolinska Institutet, Lars Rydén Karolinska Institutet, Johan Lundin Umeå University, Beatrice Melin University of Gothenburg, Margit Mahlapuu Chalmers, Fredrik Westerlund Uppsala University, Carina Blomström-Lundqvist Region Östergötland, Johan Junker Karolinska Institutet, Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam

TOTAL

TERM

SEK 1.5 m SEK 10 m SEK 9 m SEK 1.96 m SEK 9 m SEK 9 m SEK 8 m SEK 8 m

1 year 3 years 3 years 3 years 3 years 3 years 3 years 3 years

SEK 2.5 m SEK 2 m SEK 1.08 m SEK 4.73 m SEK 300,000

1 year 2 years 1 year 3 years 1 year

SEK 3 m SEK 320,000 SEK 25 m

2 years 1 year 6 years

DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

Generation Pep Min Stora Dag (My Special Day) Clownmedicin Scouts Ersta diakoni EDUCATION & TUITION

O/Modernt Stiftelsen Forskning & Framsteg Stiftelsen Aptitum Akademi Saxå Bruk

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2021

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS The Erling-Persson Foundation

SEK M INCOME STATEMENT 1 JAN–31 DEC

Operating profit Income from securities Interest income Net profit for the year

2021

2020

-10 142 4 135

48 105 5 158

ASSETS, 31 DEC

Financial non-current assets Current assets Total assets

1,650 646 2,296

1,738 644 2,382

EQUIT Y AND LIABILITIES, 31 DEC

Equity Liabilities* Total equity and liabilities

1,767 529 2,296

1,722 660 2,382

OTHER KEY FIGURES

Awards made Accumulated awards since 1999 Awards granted during the year

90 3,618 222

*Refers to sums awarded but not yet paid out.

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155 3,528 312

CONTACT Ylva Linderson, Research Secretary ylva.linderson@erlingperssonsstiftelse.se Kristina Stenvinkel, Communications stenvinkel@ramsbury.se The Erling-Persson Foundation Drottninggatan 50 Box 1421, SE-111 84 Stockholm, Sweden erlingperssonsstiftelse.se

©Erling-Perssons Stiftelse, 2022 Photos: Carl Hjelte and Johanna Åkerberg Kassel / Söderberg Agentur, Kaupo Kikkas, Thomas Karlsson, Clément Morin and Benjamin Hailemariam Text: Lotta Fredholm and Mattias Jersild Graphic design and production: Open Studio Printing and binding: Stibo Complete Typography: Brown Pro and Sabon Paper: Woodstock Azzurro 285 g and Munken Polar Rough 150 g

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