Collaboration, meeting places and networks develop Lund Innovation District

Caroline Wendt

Communicator, content manager, storytelling

Published

March 7, 2024

Categories

Business, trade & Industry

In several of the Lund Innovation Districts arrangements, various stakeholders have pointed to a need for a common narrative, increased cooperation, coordination and an increased holistic approach. More than 500 people recently shared their views on the innovation district in a survey conducted by Future by Lund and Parlametric. Collaboration, networking, arrangements, financing and meeting places are mentioned by many of the respondents when considering how the cooperation could develop.

In the survey conducted by Future by Lund together with Parlametric in the fall of 2023, over 500 people attended. The respondents were allowed to give free text answers to open-ended questions. Parlametric then analysed the open-ended responses using AI, which allows even free-text responses to be grouped by content. It is worth noting that the answers given are spontaneous, so there are no pre-specified options. Four questions were asked and the answers indicate that many have a high level of involvement with the issue.

The key factors of the innovation process are found through the question “What factors do you consider most significant in stimulating and supporting and innovation processes? There, about 60% of responses are about cooperation and relationships. Some examples of answers are “Collaborations and constellations made up of both capital-strong business and poor geniuses.” “Collaborations between everything and everyone. Innovation works best when many different perspectives and ideas work together”, “Good collaboration between the municipality, academic houses, LTH, LU, Ideon et al so that everyone has the same goal picture and is helped”. “Wide network between programs. Opportunities for cross-border cooperation range from transnational activities, workplaces, regions and more”.

- We know that innovation often takes place between organisations and proximity is important for this to happen. says Peter Kisch, operations manager at Future by Lund. It is important to ask ourselves if we have the right tools to work with to meet this. We can state that we see in the survey that spacing is expressed as extremely important in making things happen. What points towards Lund Innovation District as a collecting name is that there seems to be a lot of interest in it, because although it is elusive, people respond engagingly and often initiatively to our questions. In addition, we see that many people come to our discussions and events that we have around the concept.

The survey also highlighted “Meeting with other people” as particularly important for the innovation process and was mentioned by 64 people. Some examples of responses are “Places that promote encounters between people” and “Meeting of people of different competencies, personality and background, meeting places where several different fields can meet and exchange ideas”.

What should these meeting places be like? One issue concerns the importance of place for innovation and entrepreneurship. There, 42 people write about the importance of available meeting places. Some examples of responses are “Open meeting places for unnatural meetings”, “Natural meeting places, such as really good cafes, inviting square formations and a rich variety of evening activities”, “Easier spaces with messier spaces to meet in and exciting contexts to be a part of”, “A vibrant buzz with great cafes, eateries and other environments that make it worth leaving your home office. A stronger sense of community for those who want” as well as “Environments that allow spontaneous meetings in a straightforward way, good lunch spots”.

When asked “Describe your experience of Lund as a meeting place for innovation, development and entrepreneurship”, the vast majority of people in the survey give positive answers such as good, innovative, creative, at the forefront, many opportunities, etc. But 26 people express views grouped as “Difficult to access and not inclusive.” Examples of responses include “The difficulty may be that it is fragmented with many special interests that are sometimes short-term”, “Lund is the perfect place for all this but also occasionally has problems with cooperation between actors” and “I feel that there is competition between the different initiatives and that you only superficially talk about cooperation without doing it”. Other answers include: “However, the meeting places need to become more prestigious, playful, permissive and not least inclusive”.

Part of the interview deals with strategies for successful collaborations and external partnerships and in these answers there is a rich material for those who want to investigate what Lund Innovation District may need to develop further. The question asked was “What do you think is needed to facilitate collaborations and external partnerships?” 20% respond to networking and 11.7% collaboration, funding was indicated in response to 9.2%, getting better at marketing (7.6%) and a good communication habit (7.4%). Other responses were common goals (6.1%), more collaborations (5.1%), transparency (4.7%) and more seminars workshops 4.3%, etc. (see article's main image)

Since the answers are of very high quality, it is important to study the responses that are given. Here are some abbreviated examples of answers to the question “What do you think is needed to facilitate collaborations and external partnerships?”

- There are many components that are important in an innovation district. International practice and research have identified a range of factors. Added to this is a city's own unique characteristics and conditions, and the survey gives us a clue as to what path Lund Innovation District can take, says Peter Kisch.

During the year there will be more Lund Innovation District Talks. If you would like us to send you invitations to upcoming events send a message to info@futurebylund.se

‍

In the photo: The big picture shows the distribution of answers to the question “What do you think is needed to facilitate collaborations and external partnerships”.

‍

How does Lund work with its innovation district? Lund University and Lund Municipality have commissioned Future by Lund and partners to catalyze the work to co-create Lund as an international innovation district. The work is done, among other things, to enable us in Lund to increase our capacity to solve complex and shared challenges. The work is based on a steering group consisting of Anders Almgren, Chairman of Lund Municipal Board, Pia Kinhult, ESS and Kristina Eneroth, Vice Rector at Lund University.

‍

Previous conversations

Lund Innovation District with the vision “Global impact within walking distance”

The proximity makes Lund's innovation district unique

How can we present the innovation district's capabilities?

Human Rights Design as a Foundation for Innovation

Great interest in creating inspiring places

You can read the full report by Maria Gimenez Grau here.

How do we create exciting meeting places in the innovation district?

Great interest in the work with Lund Innovation District

Packaging, financing and critical mass key components of Lund Innovation District

Creative spaces in Lund provide unique opportunities