A new life science cluster formed – “We are pretty much on par with Medicon Valley”
Av As Life Science Sweden reported last week, Stockholm and Uppsala are now launching a joint life science cluster, the Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science Cluster. Life Science Sweden called Pontus Holm at Region Stockholm, who has participated in developing the new cluster.
Stockholm and Uppsala have long collaborated in medical research. What are the implications now that the two regions are forming a cluster?
“Obviously, we have been working together as a cluster in many ways in the past, with many people commuting between the two city regions. The new thing is that we are starting to profile this area as a life science cluster.”
What is the background for that?
“I started my job in the region a year ago, and even then, a series of interviews had been conducted in which the respondents all favoured a common cluster. We organised two series of workshops last winter asking some 50 key stakeholders if they were in favour of this cluster and the answer was a resounding yes.
“Simply put, they concluded that they want to focus on the inward-looking perspective, to improve collaboration and utilise our existing resources, as well as the outward-looking perspective. In the wider world, only one in two people know we are strong in life science in Stockholm and Uppsala. We profile ourselves too poorly. We may have a bit of a Stockholm complex in that we don’t claim to be big and excellent because, in Sweden, we’re used to getting negative reactions when we do so. However, we need to improve our ability to communicate what we do.
What is your goal?
“Well, what does success look like? One way of measuring success is to look at the more serious rankings of life science clusters that are made by different stakeholders and try to climb higher in those. However, those of us who want to drive this initiative now have the task of defining common key performance indicators and other parameters to measure the development of the cluster. Often used variables are the number of life science companies, the number of employees in these companies, investment and sales figures, the number of published scientific articles, the impact levels of these articles, and so on. There are also more qualitative indicators you can look at, such as satisfaction levels in different parts of the sector.”
“One of my goals is for us to be able to better describe everything we have to offer here so that international innovative companies and prominent researchers will find us an attractive alternative.
During the Stockholm Uppsala Life Science Conference recently, Pontus Holm presented a slide with a diagram showing that Stockholm-Uppsala almost, but not quite, reaches the top five in a ranking of life science clusters in Europe. London, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge and the Swedish-Danish cluster Medicon Valley are ranked higher, but Mr Holm noted that Stockholm-Uppsala is ‘‘annoyingly’’ close to the absolute top.
Which of the currently top-ranked clusters will you try to push down from fifth place?
“Our closest rival in that particular ranking (2024 EMEA Life Sciences Industry & Real Estate Perspective from JLL, editor’s note) is Medicon Valley. They are rated better than us in infrastructure and real estate, while we are ranked higher in human capital. We are very strong in talent and human capital and should be able to capitalise on that more.
Facts
Stockholm and Uppsala boast several universities and colleges that conduct research related to life science, including Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Other key parts of the life science ecosystem in Stockholm and Uppsala include the Karolinska University Hospital, Uppsala University Hospital and several hundred small and large companies in biotech, pharma and Medtech.
Source: Life Science Sweden
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