Scandinavia's Life Science Growth Engine

Medicon Valley is a striking example of how collaboration across borders can pay off, science wise as well as business wise. In ten years, the region has established itself as Scandinavia's strongest life science cluster.

No other area in Northern Europe has as big a cluster of companies, universities and organisations within life science as the Øresund region under the brand name of Medicon Valley. Research conducted by the region's universities and hospitals is world-class in the fields of diabetes, inflammation, neurology and cancer. In addition, Medicon Valley is about to establish itself as a stronghold for stemcell research and bioinformatics.

- Today, we have a solid identity that we can build on when branding Medicon Valley in the world, says Stina Gestrelius, Deputy Managing Director, Medicon Valley Alliance.

The bridge across the Øresund sound, connecting Sweden and Denmark, has of course helped in strengthening the identity. Every day nearly 20,000 people commute across the bridge and Stina Gestrelius has seen a stronger interest in simplifying life for commuters since the change of majority in the Swedish parliament in September 2006.

- The political dialogue is good, a that is important for research and science as well, she says.

An Impressive Number of Products in Clinical Trials 

Around 300 life science companies, employing approx. 40,000 people, are currently engaged in R&D activities in Medicon Valley, and the number of products in clinical phases exceeds 150, which is a high figure, even in a global comparison. Newly established research centres connected to the universities of Lund and Copenhagen also strengthen the region.

- Clinical Research Centre (CRC) was established in Malmö in 2006 and Bioscience Research and Innovation Center (BRIC) in Copenhagen in 2007. Furthermore, Biomedical Centre (BMC) in Lund has been expanded with the Lund BioIncubator, says Professor Per Belfrage, Chairman of Medicon Valley Alliance.

Vision for 2016

- One of our goals is now to initiate close collaboration with the ten most attractive bioregions in the world. Their representatives will work in our network, while our representatives will be stationed in partner clusters around the world. When fully implemented, as many as ten bioclusters will be represented at the MVA office in Ørestad, says Stina Gestrelius.

The cluster collaboration is part of MVA's strategic globalisation initiative called the Medicon Valley Ambassador Programme.

Further information

• Read the facts about life science in Medicon Valley
• Read the full article in Scandinavian Life Science Journal
• Read the online version of Scandinavian Life Science Journal #4, 2007
• Visit the website of Scandinavian Life Science Journal  

Source: Scandinavian Life Science Journal #4, winther edition 2007.