Innovation in aviation is accelerating—but as highlighted in the report Morgondagens Flyg, the real challenge is no longer invention. It’s scale.
Sweden hosts a growing number of successful demonstration projects involving electric aircraft, eVTOLs, drone services, and digital airspace management. Yet the step from pilot to permanent operation is proving difficult. The reasons are less about technology and more about structures: fragmented funding, siloed regulations, and a lack of institutional readiness to support aviation’s transformation.
One of the report’s core recommendations is to institutionalise Regulatory Sandboxes. These frameworks—already used in fintech and digital health—allow innovators to test services under temporary rules, with close dialogue between developers and authorities. Transportstyrelsen has shown interest in the model, and Aero EDIH is already helping municipalities prepare for their use in low-altitude trials.
Another urgent issue is test infrastructure. While Vinnova and Energimyndigheten support early R&D, there is a lack of funding and legal pathways for physical infrastructure—like vertiports, charging systems, and integrated control towers. Without public co-financing, even successful concepts struggle to reach operational status.
The report also warns of a “concept freeze”: where companies over-adapt to current regulations instead of preparing for the rapidly evolving standards from EASA and the EU Drone Strategy 2.0. To counter this, it proposes stronger coordination between Sweden’s innovation funding bodies and the agencies leading regulation (e.g. Transportstyrelsen, MSB (the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency), Boverket).
If Sweden wants to lead in advanced air mobility, innovation must fly beyond the drawing board. That means funding systems that reward bold ideas, but also reward the hard, often invisible work of scaling—safely, collaboratively, and with the whole ecosystem in mind.
This article builds on the report “Morgondagens Flyg” (The Aviation of Tomorrow), created by Transportföretagen and Aero EDIH.
