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Bilder

Öresundsbron that connects Sweden and Denmark. Photo: Colourbox

Av Samuel Lagercrantz den 16 maj 2022 08:16

The Öresund Institute and Medicon Valley Alliance have produced information on investments in companies in the life science sector in the Oresund region. Since 2017, investments totalling more than DKK 30 billion have been made or decided to be made, corresponding to approximately SEK 42 billion.

“It is a huge investment wave. Investments are being made in expanding factories, research facilities and headquarters,” says Johan Wessman, CEO of the Öresund Institute, to Life Science Sweden.

The information can be found in the final report for the project Greater Copenhagen Life Science Analysis Initiative, which will be published at the end of May and from which Life Science Sweden has received content. The report is backed by the Oresund Institute and the Medicon Valley Alliance.

The Oresund region’s life science cluster includes companies and organisations in the eastern parts of Denmark and the southern parts of Sweden. The medical companies in Copenhagen and Skåne, as well as the universities and hospitals in Copenhagen, Malmö and Lund are examples of important players in the region.

The single largest investment is made by Novo Nordisk, the report states. The Danish pharmaceutical giant is investing approximately DKK 17 billion (SEK 24 billion) in factories and production facilities in Kalundborg on West Zealand, Denmark. Today, about half of the world’s insulin is already produced in Kalundborg, a port city with just under 17,000 inhabitants, and this production is now increasing further.

Another major investor in the region is Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, the Japanese photography company’s life science branch, which will invest DKK 6 billion (just over SEK 8 billion) to expand the company’s facility on Zealand.

The largest investments are made on the Danish side of the sound, which also accounts for a major part of the region’s life science sector. In total, almost 65,000 employees are working in the industry in the Oresund region, according to the definition of life science used by the Oresund Institute and the Medicon Valley Alliance. Of these, only 7,500 people work in Sweden.

However, Johan Wessman emphasises that large investments are now also being made in the Swedish parts of the region and that many things are going on in Scanian life science.

“When we analysed the recent 5-year period, we see that the number of employees in life science in Skåne has increased by 1,500 people. We see large ventures in investment capital in the new Scanian start-up companies, which are mainly located at the science parks Medicon Village in Lund and Medeon in Malmö.”

According to Johan Wessman, 90 new companies have been established in the industry in Skåne in the last 5 years, of which 60 in Lund.

“There is so much going on in the research environment, especially in Lund, which generates new companies.”

Earlier this year, Stockholm Science City published a report pointing to a substantial expansion of the life science sector in the Stockholm-Uppsala region, and the Oresund region and Stockholm-Uppsala aim to be among the top locations in global life science.

Johan Wessman believes that the Nordic countries should present a common life science strategy to achieve synergy effects.

“If we are to exploit the full potential of Denmark’s and Sweden’s life science clusters, it would be beneficial for the countries to agree on a Nordic life science strategy and, for example, work to promote cross-border work for universities and research centres. From an international perspective, each Nordic country is small, while the Nordic countries as a unified player have significantly greater potential.”

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