Commercial human spaceflight is a new emerging industry and globally, space tourism is only the tip of an iceberg in this second space age. Spaceport Sweden is a pioneering initiative to establish space tourism and commercial human spaceflight as a new industry in Sweden and has now been selected by innovation researchers as a live case study. 

In 2011, VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency, established CiiR as a center of excellence focusing on interorganisational research. Located at Luleå University of Technology, a leading technical university for attractive and sustainable innovation, the center will follow the development of Spaceport Sweden as an innovation system in the building. 

The Centre for Inter-organizational Innovation Research (CIIR) will contribute with new knowledge on distributed innovation systems involving actors in non-metropolitan areas and with a specific interest in the role of ICT and digital innovations

The new centre will add value especially to policy and policy makers by developing a communicative platform and a centre for elaborating and debating influence and renewal of Swedish innovation systems through exploration and exploitation of ICT and digital innovations. Further CiiR will provide insights on how new trends and changes can strengthen the position of the non-metropolitan parts of the Swedish innovation system, integrating expertise from multiple disciplines and developing new innovative modes for interaction between policy and academic research.

Through close interactiion with Spaceport Sweden, CiiR will share experience and knowledge of what is needed when an innovation system is being established and further serve as a sounding board to the management and board, whilst simultaneously, learn new insights through the ongoing evaluation.