A cluster contribution to European life science innovation and competitiveness?

By David Munis Zepernick, Director Member Engagement and Communication, Medicon Valley Alliance

From a European life science perspective the summer and thereby the start of the Danish EU Presidency 1st of July was exceptionally busy. Following up on the proposals in the Draghi report published in September last year, which explicitly highlighted the relevance and potential of the cluster perspective, the European Commission launched its strategy to make Europe the most attractive place in the world for life sciences by 2030 2nd of July this year.

The Draghi report and the EU strategy are closely related. Pharma and life science are former European innovation and industry strongholds of crucial importance, where Europe has steadily been losing ground to the US and China over the last few decades, resulting in a significant competitiveness gap.

To bounce back and make Europe the most attractive place in the world for life sciences already by 2030 is, consequently, ambitious to say the least. But "Fortune favors the brave" as they say, so let´s indeed pick up the gauntlet. Let´s discuss how we can bring the needed change about and what could be the constituent parts of such a coherent European strategy helping to overcome the barriers and pool the resources needed to go from a world of potentially X number of member states with individual and nationally oriented life science strategies to an integrated and truly European approach and an overarching framework, which can actually support the 2023 ambitions.

The three key components of the life science strategy are 1) Optimising the research and innovation ecosystem, 2) Enabling rapid market access for life science innovations and 3) Boosting trust, uptake and use of innovation.

Among the specific and highly welcomed initiatives hiding beneath the headlines are among others an EU investment plan to facilitate funding for multi-country clinical trials and strengthen European clinical research infrastructures, a One Health approach to research and innovation which will mobilise up to €100 million under the Horizon Europe work programmes 2026-27 to develop and deploy microbiome-based solutions and an EU Biotech Act that will create a more innovation-friendly framework across biotech sectors. The EU Commission also plan for a matchmaking interface to connect startups, industry and investors, leveraging the European Innovation Council portfolio, and its Trusted Investors Network and a new Life Science Coordination Group to align policies and funding across sectors, and support engagement with key stakeholders, including industry and citizens.

As a cluster organization we might be a bit biased but the first part about “Optimising the research and innovation ecosystem” seems to be crucial.

If we are to create a European life science strategy, which is indeed European and as such better, stronger and more innovative than the sum of its parts, a detailed mapping of current life science cluster strongholds is an obvious place to start. The Draghi report already hinted at where to start this deep dive when it highlighted EU clusters, such as the tri-national BioValley in France, Germany and Switzerland, Medicon Valley across Denmark and Sweden, BioM in Germany and FlandersBio in Belgium. As the report correctly points out, none of them have the critical mass to rival the size, appeal and global impact of major US hubs (in the Boston area or San Francisco Bay area). One of the key reasons being that Member States’ national interests tended to “lead to support for local champions resulting in a dispersed landscape, rather than focusing on developing a few dedicated, targeted hubs”.
In other words, such a detailed mapping could and should help identify the politically tough questions of what to invest in and where to invest, which we need to address if we are to adopt a truly European perspective and have a fair chance of reaching the 2030 objectives.

At Swedish-Danish Medicon Valley Alliance, we have picked up the gauntlet. At our upcoming MVA Annual Summit 10th of November in Copenhagen, we will present a brand-new analysis by British Citeline mapping the strongholds of the individual clusters and pointing to the potential for both further collaboration and specialization. We have invited a distinguished panel of cluster representatives to discuss the conclusions and help guide Europe in the right direction as seen from a bottom-up cluster perspective. As we believe the British are still Europeans and can contribute with both scientific excellence, funding and critical mass, we have included the Golden Triangle and invited them to join the panel.

2030 is just around the corner and I doubt US nor China are slowing down and allowing the Europe to pick up. On the contrary, they are both more likely to accelerate, if they sense that we are about to bounce back in just four years.

The life science cluster analysis will be published and presented at the start of the summit to set the agenda. If we succeeded in making you curious, you can find the full agenda for the full-day event “The EU Competitiveness Compass Points to Medicon Valley” and link to registration on Medicon Valley Alliance´s webpage. We hope to see you there and look forward to your important contribution too.