Life science-sektoren i Øresundsregionen, Medicon Valley, har øget antallet af medarbejdere med 12.000 personer på fem år og beskæftiger nu omkring 65.500 medarbejdere. Der er udbredt optimisme i branchen, og der er planlagt investeringer i nye fabrikker, forskningsfaciliteter og bygninger for mere end 45 mia. kr. i Østdanmark, hvilket forventes at skabe yderligere 4.000 arbejdspladser. Det viser Øresundsinstituttets analysearbejde inden for rammerne af Interreg-projektet Greater Copenhagen Life Science Analysis Initiative. Projektet blev gennemført i 2019-2022 i samarbejde med Medicon Valley Alliance og medfinansieret af Region Sjælland og Region Skåne. Nedenfor er de vigtigste resultater og links til de rapporter, der er produceret inden for projektet.

Highlights:

+45 MIA. DKK IN CONSTRUCTION INVESTMENTS
The life science sector in Medicon Valley has seen significant investment capacity and belief in the future in recent years. This is apparent in various ways, including that life science companies are investing more than DKK 45bn in expanding their production plants, research facilities, and/or offices and domiciles regionally. More than 4 000 new jobs in the regionen are expected to be generated through the investments on both sides of the Øresund.

16 LIFE SCIENCE MUNICIPALITIES
More than 1 000 employees work in private life science companies in 16 municipalities in the Danish-Swedish Medicon Valley. These municipalities are particularly important for the life science sector in the region, as around 86% of the ca 65 500 people employed regionally work in a company located in one of these 16 municipalities. Company structure varies from one municipality to the next, with especially strong startup activity in Copenhagen, Lyngby, Hørsholm and Lund because of their proximity to incubators, science parks, the healthcare sector, and universities. Large production facilities and headquarters are located both close to and far from the Copenhagen area. Gladsaxe Municipality, Copenhagen Municipality, and Ballerup Municipality are the three largest life science municipalities in Medicon Valley.

COMPETENCE NEED ARE LINKED TO THE STEM SUBJECTS
Life science companies in Medicon Valley need access to various competences. Overall, these expertise needs are largely linked to the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), commercial and regulatory expertise, and IT. This was shown in two survey questionnaires in which around 50 companies in eastern Denmark and around 130 companies in Skåne were questioned.

3 RESEARCH AREAS OF EXCELLENCE
Cancer, diabetes and reproduction are three research areas of excellence in Medicon Valley. World-class research is conducted in all three, and there are multiple links across the strait.
There are around 600 researchers in CANCER RESEARCH at the hospitals in Region Skåne, Region Hovedstaden and Region Sjælland, and there is also extensive research at the universities, in the industry and at the Danish Cancer Society’s research institute in Copenhagen. Within cancer research, it is relatively common for researchers and research groups to collaborate across the strait, but researchers call for more structural collaboration.
     DIABETES RESEARCH has strong historical links to the Øresund Region, as the predecessor to today’s Novo Nordisk was founded in Copenhagen in 1923. Today, research centres on both sides of the Øresund bring together diabetes research, and many of the largest players have joined forces in the Interreg-collaboration DiaUnion.
     REPRODUCTION RESEARCH has also traditionally been strong in the Øresund Region, and there has long been extensive exchange across the strait within the Interreg-project ReproUnion 2.0 and its earlier iterations. Today, a unique biobank is being constructed, the aim with which is to include 5 000 couples from Denmark and Sweden and get to the bottom of involuntary childlessness.

€47mn
Between 2015-2022, the EU-programme Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak granted just under €47mn to 18 joint Danish-Swedish development projects in the life sciences. Funds for the Interreg-projects come from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund.

Greater Copenhagen Life Science Analysis Initiative