History
 

Medicon Valley Academy (MVA) commenced in 1997 as an EU Intereg II project. The very first and informal discussions, however, started as early as 92. The bridge between Denmark and Sweden was projected to be finished in 2000 and this event was expected to highly stimulate the number of interactions between research and business communities in the two countries. The primary initiators behind the cluster organisation Medicon Valley Academy were the universities in Lund and Copenhagen and strongly supported by the major pharmaceutical companies in the region, i.e. Novo Nordisk, Lundbeck and Astra-Zeneca. After the first three-year period, strong networks of public authorities, hospitals, companies and universities were instituted.

On the MVA founding day in April 1997, 23 regional actors applied for membership. Today, more than 10 years later, MVA has approximately 290 members. MVA has, through its activities, to a significant degree contributed to the international visibility of the region. The names Medicon Valley and Medicon Valley Academy are internationally very well known and have obtained positions as very strong brands. In 2007, Medicon Valley Academy changed its name to Medicon Valley Alliance to signal its more broad foundation in the region – not predominantly in academia – but also in the more business or private domain of the region.