Medicon Valley is facing increasing global competition and life science players in Medicon Valley need to find new smart ways to exploit the full potential of the region.
This is the one of the conclusions which can be derived from three recent reports: “VINNOVA - Svensk Life Science industri efter AstraZenecas nedskärningar”, “ OECD Territorial Reviews - Skåne, Sweden, 2012” and ”Ernst & Young - Beyond borders: Global biotechnology report 2012”.
The Vinnova analysis points to the fact that more than 2000 jobs at AstraZeneca in Lund, Södertalje and Mölndal disappeared in 2011-2012. The R&D investments from AstraZeneca in Sweden are expected to decrease with 30%. Competent labour is released and made available but the life science industry is not in an expansive phase. There is a long term risk that the life science labour market will lose attractiveness resulting in less education in the field.
The analysis suggests i.a. to create an environment of open innovation with cross-fertilization between disciplines, sharing of data, knowledge, tools etc.
The Beacon project, initiated by Medicon Valley Alliance and Invest in Skåne, is addressing this challenge. The two organizations have been granted Interreg funding to promote Medicon Valley’s profile and establish it as a region with world-class specialists and unique competences in a range of areas, beacons.
- The life science players in Medicon Valley needs to join forces to obtain smart specialization that can meet global needs. In the Beacon project we are mapping the strongholds in Medicon Valley and potential cooperation between the stakeholders in the region in order to create smart combinations across disciplines, says Susanna Dahlgren, Senior Project Manager in Medicon Valley Alliance.
Highly Innovative
The report “OECD Territorial Reviews - Skåne, Sweden, 2012” concludes that Skåne is recognized as a highly innovative region with a strong academic presence and a large proportion of highly educated researchers and employees. But this does not translate into the full potential of creation of jobs and economic growth.
The OECD Review suggests i.a to develop a specialization strategy to fully utilize concrete results of innovation in the region. At the same time there should be a cross-fertilization over clusters to develop expertise on the border between different regional innovation arenas.
Ernst & Young as well call for more collaboration in their annual report on the global biotechnology industry “Beyond borders: Global biotechnology report 2012”.
- In this capital-constrained environment, we can no longer afford inefficiency and duplication in drug R&D. The industry needs to remove duplication, encourage pre-competitive collaboration, pool data and let researchers learn in real time, says Glen Giovannetti, Ernst & Young Global Biotechnology Leader.
Read the Reports
Ernst & Young - Beyond borders: Global biotechnology report 2012
VINNOVA - Svensk Life Science industri efter AstraZenecas nedskärningar (in Swedish)