MVA recommendations in the area of innovation

In the report "From Bioscience to New Jobs", Medicon Valley Alliance presents five recommendations on measures intended to bring the innovation system of Medicon Valley to a worldclass level:

Recommendation 1: Recruitment of Substantial Commercial skills and Business Know-how into Technology Transfer Organisations

• The objective is to raise productivity and commercial output of the technology transfer process.

Recommendation 2: Consolidation of Technology Transfer Offices

• The objective is to ensure that all competencies at the technology transfer offices across Medicon Valley are used most effectively in order to increase the quality and commercial output from the technology transfer process and to utilise the considerable potentials for economy of scale in the total technology transfer processes of Medicon Valley.
• Technology transfer in the Medicon Valley region should be organized into a common technology transfer organization, a service centre, serving the local embedded technology officers at the universities of the entire region.

Recommendation 3: Funding for Proof-Of-Concept studies and SBIR Grants

• The objective is to ensure sufficient funding for proof-of-concept to all research projects with viable commercial potentials.
• TTOs need to be allocated proof-of-concept funds that can be made easily available to a researcher in order to prepare for patenting and commercialisation in collaboration with the TTO.
• Increasing numbers of quality incubator grant programs, such as the American SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research), with economic support of research until the results and business plan have reached a stage where venture capital can be attracted.

Recommendation 4: Seed Investments across Øresund

• The objective is to ensure that national Danish and Swedish seed funding is stimulating growth of young innovative companies in Medicon Valley in the most optimal way.
• A change of legislation aiming to remove current obstacles and to allow Vaekstfonden and Industrifonden to invest outside Denmark and Sweden in the Medicon Valley area and beyond in order to follow the companies where they go with their international business.

Recommendation 5: Tax Incentives for the Young Biotech Industry

• The objective is to accelerate product development time in young innovative companies and to ensure that young innovative companies without income have the same practical outcome of the current tax regime as R&D companies with income (in Denmark).
• A directly relevant incentive scheme should be introduced for young companies in the form of a tax carry-back of up to 50% of the salary costs of these young innovative companies.