Head of VTI: "We could have 300 employees"
Mattias Viklund outside VTI’s offices in Linköping. Economic factors are currently constraining operations, but in the long term, the organization could well expand. "As long as the need for research exists and continues to grow, it is our job to meet it. We could have a staff of 300 if the demand were that high," he says.
Curious, analytical and friendly. Also holistic and forward-looking. This is how VTI's new Director General Mattias Viklund describes himself in five words.
The 54-year-old Stockholmer, sports fan and genealogist took up the position as head of VTI at the end of the year. The first few weeks have been spent listening and reading, meeting with employees and in contact with both clients and other important players in VTI's operating environment. And digesting and thinking.
At the top of the to-do document he has been working on for several years is a question: VTI's finances. The planned cuts in research funding are a major challenge.
"It's worrying and I don't hide it. But there are also opportunities. We need to continue the dialogue about VTI's role and the importance of transport research. It's also important to look at new opportunities for funding in a different way than before," he says.
Internally, VTI also needs to consider whether there is reason to work in a different way than before. Mattias Viklund stresses that flexibility is important. If a research area has difficulty with funding and is not in the spotlight as much as before, then resources should be able to be moved to areas with greater potential. Quite quickly, moreover.
VTI's new Director General also wants to invest in AI.
"You can't ignore it. AI is an important tool for administration and other common functions. But I also see great opportunities to use AI in research activities," he says, and sees larger, overarching projects at VTI ahead of him.
Mattias Viklund brings with him to VTI a long career in the public sector. After graduating with a doctorate in economic psychology in 2003, he first worked as an analyst and strategist and later as head of unit at the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority. He was then secretary general of a government inquiry into Sweden's broadband strategy and after that head of administration at Södertörn University.
In 2013, he took up the position of Head of Department and Deputy DG at VTI, and in 2019 he became Director General of Transport Analysis. There he also had time to be responsible for two government inquiries on electrified transport and sustainable fuels for aviation and shipping.
"I'm drawn to exciting social issues and like to seek answers and build knowledge step by step. And I like new challenges," he answers when asked what drives him.
Some leaders like to get things started, but don't think it's as fun to complete them. Do you get tired easily?
"No, I wouldn't say that, but I do have a certain impatience. And it shouldn't be too easy. But VTI has 240 employees and a wide range of activities, so I expect that there will always be things to get to grips with.
Footnote: The article was previously published in VTI aktuellt 3-2026
Mattias Viklund
Current role: Since the beginning of the year, Director General of VTI
Age: 54 years
Family: 19-year-old son
Lives: Villa in Trångsund, south of Stockholm, overnight apartment in Linköping
Background: Grew up in Brastad in Lysekil municipality, with two younger sisters. His father worked in the security industry, his mother in childcare. N-line at upper secondary school for a year, then a sabbatical year with a job "in the transport industry" (at a petrol station) before starting over at the social science line. Studied political science at the University of Gothenburg, master's degree in business administration in 1997. Research assistant at the Stockholm School of Economics in 1998 and doctoral student the following year. Defended his thesis in 2003. Thereafter a number of positions and investigative assignments in the public sector.
Interests: Sports, likes to exercise, watch and talk about sports. Social issues, politics, philosophical questions. Genealogy nerd, has written the book "Men stjärnorna lyser vidare" together with his father about a family mystery.