Competition for the world's best researchers is fierce. Now, Sweden is hoping to steal a march on its rivals by offering very high pay to top researchers and their teams in an effort to lure them to Scandinavia.

The Swedish Research Council said the new grant would give Swedish higher education institutions a long-term opportunity to attract leading international researchers to Sweden.

The grant for one researcher amounts to between 5–15 million kronor ($750,000–2,270,000) over 7-10 years.

"My hope is that this will provide new opportunities to higher education institutions to offer residence to highly qualified international researchers and that these researchers can contribute to creating successful environments and stimulate established colleagues as well as researchers at the beginning of their careers,” said the Director-General of the Swedish Research Council, Mille Millnert.

The Swedish Research Council's budget for grants in 2013 amounts to 150 million kronor, and the same will be available again in 2014. The investment is a government scheme.

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This article was published in collaboration with Stockholm Business Region.

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