What makes the talents choose Lund?

Caroline Wendt

Communicator, content manager, storytelling

Published

April 9, 2024

Categories

Innovation district

Sustainability

Business, trade & Industry

City of Lund

Co-Create

Innovation management

What do footballers in Malmö FF's academies, international workforce who apply to Lund to work and students who become entrepreneurs or innovators have in common? The answer is that they are all hotly sought-after talents. The sixth event on Lund Innovation District was about how Lund develops, retains and attracts talent and therefore Niclas Carlnén, Malmö FF, Marie Löwegren, Lund University, Ulrika Ringdahl from SMiLE Venture Hub and Lisa Andersson from International Citizen Hub were on hand to contribute to the discussions.

In the joint work with Lund Innovation District Companies, organisations, universities and society are invited to a conversation about a topic about once a month. In March 2024, it was time to talk about how Lund can develop, attract and retain talent to enrich Lund's business community. To discuss this with talent attraction in depth, four actors with extensive experience of working with talents had been invited to the event at the Lund School of Economics. Niclas Carlnén, CEO Malmo FF, Ulrika Ringdahl, vice president at SMiLE Venture Hub, Marie Löwegren from Lund University and Lisa Andersson, International Citizens Hub Lund contributed knowledge and experience on talent attraction and then discussed the topic together with some seventy innovation-interested actors, business leaders and representatives from municipalities and universities.

Niclas Carlnén spoke about Malmö FF's work with talents through 18 academies around Skåne with approximately 1200 students enrolled. The association started these academies with the intention of getting the talent to perform better in school so that they all gain high school eligibility — and it has been shown that the average grade of the football class in grade nine is better than that of the other classes and that between 95 and 100 percent also gain high school eligibility.

- Students are not necessarily smarter than others, but perform better because there is a motivation, says Niclas Carlnén. Very few of them become elite players but they bite into society in other ways. We will have the opportunity to connect with a variety of players, with some coming back as supporters, partners and sponsors of the association.

Marie Löwegren works through Stone K Johnson's Centre for Entrepreneurship with training students from all faculties in the art of becoming an entrepreneur.

- Lund University is a great talent magnet in its own right. Our nine faculties attract talent from all over the world and there is potential in a variety of areas, which can be exploited in the innovation district. Through the Entrepreneurship Program, we want to teach students how to act on opportunities and ideas and turn these into a value for others. The course in entrepreneurship last time had about 1200 applicants for 66 places and the applicants were of 29 different nationalities. Both in innovation and entrepreneurship, cross-fertilization across subject boundaries is important, it provides a more interesting entrepreneurship and companies can have the opportunity to develop in a better way.

International Citizen Hub Lund (ICHL) is part of Lund Municipality and started in 2015 as a result of the recruitment of excellence to the research facilities ESS and MAX IV. An important goal is to take care of accompanying husband or wife, because if the family does not like it, they often go home again and there will be an unsuccessful recruitment. Recently, ICHL has also started working on how Lund can attract talent, and sees that Lund needs to be seen more internationally.

- If we want to create talent attraction, it is important for companies that Lund is visible, says Lisa Andersson at ICHL. In Lund, we have a good innovation district, but we need to communicate it better, for example, that there is good cooperation with great opportunities.

Ulrika Ringdahl is Vice President at SMiLE Venture Hub, which is an incubator where people work on developing and building early-stage companies within Life Science. Life Science is a profile area for Lund, making it an important magnet for talent. Many people come here because there is a job market to be a part of.

- We see a great need for talent in the Life Science industry, says Ulrika Ringdahl. The companies at SMiLE are in the early stages of development where the focus is still very much on research. The need for talent comes from universities. However, we would like to have better opportunities to get the international students to stay, but regulations mean that it can be difficult both with internships and that students from outside the EU are not allowed to stay in Sweden for so long. The challenge in Life Science often comes at a later stage where you need commercial expertise and also expertise in complex regulatory frameworks. These skills are lacking in the region.

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Below is a compilation of observations and ideas from panel and audience during the ensuing debate:

• There is a need for specialized talents but also those who can cope with cross couplings. For example, companies that have traditionally hired many engineers have started hiring more people from the humanities, because otherwise it can be difficult to capture all the elements of innovation.

• During the meeting, skills provision in STEM (Science, Technologies, Engineering, Mathematics) was discussed and whether it could be improved by copying, for example, Malmö FF's football academy. There, it is the interest in football that becomes the impetus for the students to pass other subjects as well. In line with this, an interest in a field — ranging from sport and culture to astronomy and mathematics — could be the basis for getting students more motivated for certain educations.

• Entrepreneurship education is Sweden's most sought-after entrepreneurship education. How can you increase the number of places and get more graduates to stay in Sweden after completing their education?

• Interdisciplinarity can be counteracted by the fact that the university is spread across the city and the different faculties are located in different locations.

• Although some international students move from Lund, it gives Lund contacts and ambassadors in the world.

• Multidisciplinary work and industrial collaboration could be better prioritised in merit systems for researchers at the university.

• Often we focus on the different disciplines and activities but forget the spacing activities that actually make everything stick together. It can be a part of achieving success to be able to be and operate in the middle space where no one is an expert or in charge and where you have access to other knowledge.

• It should not be forgotten that there are innovations that do not come from universities and that the talents behind these are also important to capture in an innovation district.

• International talent is needed not only because we lack expertise and knowledge, but also to contribute to new and different approaches.

• What experience do international talents get from Lund? For example, what is it like to be an English speaker in the centre of Lund? If everyone is going to feel at home in Lund and in the innovation district, there is a lot to do. International schools and housing are important, but also the opportunity to get to know Swedes and get into society.

• In the future, companies may need to establish themselves in places where people want to move.

• All Lund residents may not even know what the Lund Innovation District is. It would have been great if it was a very attractive part of the city where it is interesting to be for everyone.

• Even those companies that do not classify themselves as innovative are potential test beds for innovations. Can there be dialogue so that they open up innovative ideas?

• Several participants highlighted the need for updated regulations regarding residence permits, work permits, etc. for talents.

• The development of an Innovation District can act as a magnet for young talent. Working in an innovative and multidisciplinary environment with many organizations and companies not only creates a job today but opportunities for a future career.

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Hosts for the event about the Lund Innovation District were this time the School of Economics and Lund Municipality.

How does Lund work with the Innovation District? Lund University and Lund Municipality has commissioned Future by Lund and its partners to catalyze efforts 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.

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Previous conversations

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Human Rights Design as a Foundation for Innovation

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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

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