On November 1, 1999, an application for economic support of a 5-year programme on postgenomic research and technology in south-west Sweden ("Swegene") was submitted to the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The signatories were the Rectors/Vice Chancellors and the Deans of the Medical and Natural Science faculties of Lund University/Lund Institute of Technology, Göteborg University and the Chalmers University of Technology.

Letter to KAW
Application

Picture from the front page of the application.

The detailed programme submitted had been prepared in many meetings and lively discussions between some 50 scientists from the participating institutions. A hallmark of the Swegene application was the creation of common technology platforms and research centres that were to be initiated and operated with funds from the Wallenberg Foundation and with matching funds supplied by the participating universities. From the outset it was thus made clear that Swegene was not intended to fund individual research projects.

To reach the intended goals over a 5-year period, a total of SEK400 million was requested from the Wallenberg Foundation with a commitment for an additional SEK220 million from the participating universites.

In a letter dated March 30, 2000, the Wallenberg Foundation announced that it had decided to grant SEK60 million to the Swegene project for the year 2000. Furthermore, if the established activity proved to meet high scientific standards, financial support of the same magnitude could be expected for the next 4 years. An evaluation of the Swegene project by international experts was to be performed after 2 years.

On May 19, 2000, the participating universities reached a formal agreement on the implementation of the Swegene project, in which the goals and the organization were defined.

Swegene was to be managed by a board, and members of this board for the period through December 31, 2002, were formally appointed. Additional members representing extramural interests have since been appointed, and a replacement has been made. The present members of the board Reintroduced  here.