Why Southern Sweden is Sweet for Science
If you fly into Copenhagen’s sleek international airport, you will likely catch a glimpse of the magnificent Öresund bridge (Øresund in Danish), an eight-kilometer-long marvel of modern civil engineering which elegantly connects the Danish capital with Sweden’s scenic southern tip, Skåne.
From high above, imagine the bridge is a line drawn by an inoculation loop across the middle of a petri dish. Adjusting your microscope, zoom in on the thriving Medicon Village biotech ecosystem located on either side. As one of Europe’s most successful clusters, this is a real hot bed of life sciences research & innovation, delivering significant contributions to global health and wellbeing. It is a key strategic sector in Denmark & Sweden, with the life science industry being Sweden’s second-largest export sector. There is a proud heritage of embracing innovation, and fostering collaboration, going back to at least 1876, when the Carlsberg Foundation, one of the world’s oldest industrial foundations, started investing in visionary scientific research.
Fast forward almost 150 years to now, and Nordic Life Sciences Days, the premiere venue for doing business with Nordic life science companies, will be in southern Sweden’s charming coastal city of Malmö, with its central cobblestone square lined with cozy cafes and half-timbered houses. Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city, is easily reached from Copenhagen airport followed by a serene journey across the striking bridge to its eastern end. There, you can meet with a wide representation from the around 820 local life sciences companies and organizations active across the whole spectrum of pharma, biotech, medtech, and diagnostics. Just like microbes on a petri dish, many of the companies are micro-sized, around 83%, but with great growth potential, especially in medtech innovation, which represent 43% of the local sector. Last year’s Nordic Life Science Days attracted over 1,600 delegates representing over 900 companies and organizations, as well as over 150 investors, from 30 countries.
Due in part to the bridge, Skåne is well-integrated into the greater Copenhagen area labor market, with its top-notch scientific and technical expertise, and the headquarters of major pharmaceutical companies including Novo Nordisk and GenMab. With Denmark’s shining star Novo Nordisk, renowned for its phenomenal global success with obesity and insulin treatments, at the heart of the ecosystem it should be no surprise that a good proportion of the region’s companies focus on metabolic disorders. As with most other biotech clusters, oncology is the number one focus, with over a third of companies active in that therapeutic area. Neurology is neck-to-neck with metabolic disorders as the second main area.
The fertile soils of Skåne are also highly productive for drug development, with the region contributing well over a quarter of the Swedish drug pipeline. Sweden is overall a powerful global R&D engine, as it is the largest contributor to the Nordic drug pipeline, with close to 400 drug assets at more than 130 companies with active drug development programs. Granted public funding is also abundant, accounting for a fifth of Sweden’s total. That’s impressive considering the county represents only 3% of Sweden’s total area and has just 13% of the country’s population. There’s simply something sweet about southern Sweden when it comes to securing success in life sciences.
Experience it for yourself by registering here for Nordic Life Science Days, where you can discuss the road ahead for the life science industry in the super sessions and topical workshops. At the end of a busy conference day, join the locals in lifting a glass of probably the best lager in the world and say Skål Skåne!
Want to know more about Skåne lifesciences? Download the Citeline & Medicon Village’s free ‘Life Science Barometer 2024’ report.
Already in Skåne, or thinking of starting a life sciences company there? Check out the 10XHealth new scaleup program, launched this year by the SmiLe Incubator, a leading venture hub that has supported over 100 startups, and Medicon Village. The program is designed to equip established life science companies with the skills needed to accelerate their growth and contribute to strengthening the local life science industry in Skåne. Details here.
