This document discusses the MAX IV synchrotron radiation facility project in Lund, Sweden. It describes how synchrotron radiation facilities have improved over time, providing more brilliant, stable, reliable, and coherent light beams. The MAX IV project aims to build new storage rings that optimize for average brilliance and a linear accelerator driven free electron laser. This will provide unique opportunities for high resolution spectroscopy, nanofocusing capabilities below 10nm, coherence techniques, and studying ultrafast dynamics at the femtosecond scale. The MAX IV facility is intended to be a world-class laboratory that enables new scientific discoveries across many disciplines.