AstraZeneca’s BioVentureHub is planning to double in size. That’s according to Matti Ahlqvist, Site Director for AstraZeneca’s R&D facility in Mölndal, in LIFe-time’s special edition focused on Sweden’s competitiveness in life science. The BioVentureHub is one of several major investments in West Sweden that are attracting attention.
Publish date:2019-02-26–Text:
Kenny Genborg
The BioVentureHub is an integral part of the open innovation culture emerging in West Sweden. Large companies are providing smaller external companies and organisations access to their research environments.
“At the moment, we have 27 companies distributed across a dedicated area of 2 500 m2 and we now intend to double that space,” says Matti Ahlqvist to LIFe-time.se.
Adjacent to Astra Zeneca, the planning process for the large innovation and urban development project, GoCo, is also in full swing.
“AstraZeneca is now raising its ambition level even higher and aims to transform its entire site into a Science Campus,” according to Matti Ahlqvist.
At the same time, plans for the extensive project, Sahlgrenska Life, are taking shape in connection with Sahlgrenska Science Park.
“Knowledge development is speeding along, and life science is undergoing a paradigm shift characterized by the fact that industries, technologies and skills are being integrated and are collaborating in a completely new way,” says Sahlgrenska Science Park’s CEO, Charlotta Gummeson, in one of the special edition articles entitled “Billion kronor investments in West Sweden” (“Miljardsatsningar i Västsverige”).
“Life science is being broadened to include sectors that we have not been used to before. To a large extent, the same skills collaborating in life science are the same as those behind the great development leap in mobility and self-driving cars.”
Charlotta Gummeson highlights the major investment in a national collaboration centre for research within artificial intelligence, AI INNOVATION of Sweden, at Lindholmen in Gothenburg, and also the fact that West Sweden has been assigned as a national centre for clinical research.
However, Sweden’s ability to be competitive in life science is certainly not obvious. As LIF’s CEO, Anders Blanck, writes in his editorial text:
“Sweden is currently at a crossroads. We can choose the high ambition path where we really invest. In this case, we introduce favourable competitive conditions for the life science companies to get Swedish companies to grow, which subsequently attracts more and heavier international investments… or we can choose the middle road, where we are content to make with symbolic efforts, don’t mind that Sweden falls behind other countries in life science, and where we consider that Swedish patients can settle for mediocre medical treatment ”
