23 million for the University's research on sustainable supply chains

The University of Gävle has been granted SEK 12 million from the Knowledge Foundation for a new research project that will help the manufacturing industry to ensure sustainability throughout the supply chain. Twelve companies are participating and co-financing the project, which has a total budget of SEK 23 million.

The project, called ENSURE - Ensuring sustainability in the upstream supply chain, is led by Professor Per Hilletofth at the University of Gävle. It is the first time the University has run a project of this kind - with three integrated sub-projects combining environmental science, business administration and industrial economics.

ENSURE addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing today's industrial companies: how to ensure sustainability in complex, multi-tiered supply chains in accordance with new EU directives.

"Past experience has shown that the biggest sustainability challenges are often not in the factory itself but in the supply chain. We want to help companies move from passive monitoring to active collaboration with their suppliers", says Hilletofth.

Three sub-projects - one framework

ENSURE comprises three sub-projects:

• Measuring - developing methods to measure environmental, social and economic sustainability in the supply chain.
• Select - develop decision support to select suppliers that meet sustainability goals.
• Develop - strengthen suppliers' own ability to work sustainably.

The aim is to strengthen Swedish industry's ability to lead the transition towards sustainable supply chains.

"Many companies have limited resources to follow up sustainability goals throughout the supply chain. By creating frameworks and tools, we can give both large and small companies better conditions to succeed. We see this as a major step in combining academic excellence with the concrete needs of industry and contributing to sustainable development in the Swedish manufacturing industry", says Hilletofth.

Companies in co-production

Twelve companies are participating in the project, which aims to create new knowledge that can also benefit more companies, including through guidelines, training materials and open dissemination of results. Three doctoral students will be employed in the project, which will run from August 2025 to May 2029.

"This is a fantastic announcement for the University and an important piece of the puzzle in the ongoing work to build a strong research environment within our interdisciplinary and strategic research area Intelligent Industry. This is also proof that our strategic work to increase the scope of externally funded research is beginning to yield results", says Ylva Fältholm, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gävle.