New phase in work with Lund Innovation District
For a couple of years, Future by Lund, together with researchers at Lund University, has had exchanges with international organizations that collect and build knowledge about innovation districts around the world. In this work, knowledge has also been gathered about Lund as a first base for understanding what data is available and how the district of Lund could be packaged. This provides a good experience base for the implementation of the mission. With its experience, Future By Lund also has its nearly ten-year work as a Vinnovafinansierad Innovation Platform in Lund. In this work, the LIEPT model (Lund Innovation Ecosystem Portfolio Tracking model) has been developed together with researchers at Lund University and LU Collaboration, as well as Vinnova and OECD/OPSI, in order to initiate, follow and lead the development of different innovation portfolios across organizational and interdisciplinary boundaries.
The work on innovation districts that will now be done in Lund will be based on a steering group consisting of Anders Almgren, Chairman of the Lund Municipal Board, Pia Kinhult, ESS and Kristina Eneroth, Vice Rector at Lund University. Future by Lund has been commissioned to coordinate this work.
Lund is already a national and international arena for innovative and sustainable urban development and for tests and pilot projects in sharp focus. In Lund, there are two major research facilities linked to materials research — the MAX IV laboratory, which is already in operation, and the European Spallation Source (ESS), which is under construction. These are some of the reasons why Lund is increasingly taking on an increasing role as an international place for knowledge development. At the same time, the city is small, which gives the advantage that it is close to everything and everyone.
- Lund is like an archipelago with many strong innovation functions and parts, says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth, CEO at FBL. Had Lund not already been a strong innovation district, I don't think we would have had, for example, ESS. But these islands can also be merged into a stronger whole, and this is what we will now work on within the Future by Lund network. We will build bridges and mobilize power jointly, for example to create strong portfolios that are investable together.
- It is important to continue to innovate so that we can solve today's and future problems, find new ways to use resources and increase the quality of life, says Peter Kisch, operations manager at Future by Lund. Innovation contributes to renewal, improvement and the creation of new workplaces. But there are many factors that must be true and that makes innovation a complex process that we are now going to analyze and package.
To provide a holistic view of an innovation ecosystem, there are several key areas to focus on, such as critical mass of knowledge, ideas & portfolios, entrepreneurship & innovation, site qualities, leadership and diversity.
Read more about the work with innovation districts in our previous articles:
NIDD: Innovation districts to make talent thrive
Science City Lyngby's journey towards becoming an innovation district
Collaboration can improve Lund's innovation ecosystem
What about Lund's innovation ecosystem?
Density in Lund Innovation District
Petter Hartman: “We in Lund need to position ourselves together”
Barcelona connects technology and innovation with culture, creative industries and social innovation
Interview with James Wilson, Research Director at Orkestra in San Sebastian, in Spain:
“Cities have an interesting role to play as a testbed for many of the innovation activities”