Packaging, financing and critical mass key components of Lund Innovation District
Innovation districts are a concept that many cities in the world are discussing and investing in. An innovation district is a small part of a city where there is a tight gap between actors and infrastructure that enriches the work of innovations. Over the past year, Lund has started to work more actively with Lund Innovation District. During EU Days Lund 2023 hosted by Lund Municipality, Lund University, the representation of the European Commission in Sweden and Europa Direkt Lund in cooperation with several co-organizers, large companies related to Lund — Saab Kockums participated, Alfa Laval, Volvo Cars, AXIS Communications, Bosch and Tetra Pak — in a panel discussion on Lund's strengths and weaknesses as an innovation district from the point of view of large companies.
- There are many ways to take advantage of an innovation district. Part of it is idea generation and that we create new ideas through collaboration and discussions, for example between universities and companies. In conjunction with that, we also need funding and test beds. This is a new way of working, so we also need researchers to investigate whether this is a method suitable for the industrial field,” says Roger Berg, Head of Research at Saab Kockums.
The companies talked about how Lund as an innovation environment has been important and sometimes decisive for the location of the business in Lund. In this, the proximity to Lund University, a broad university with all nine faculties, was central to this. In Lund, the geographical distances are so small that the expertise can be found within cycling or walking distance. In addition, the talents of the future are trained at the university, and many of the companies offer programs to attract them into their business. Of course, the proximity to Malmö, Copenhagen and Kastrup Airport also plays a big role. In addition, an environment with other companies in the vicinity also proved to be one of Lund's strengths, both for finding collaborations and for being able to offer an exciting job market for talent together.
- It's all about packaging the innovation district and building a critical mass, because the more companies there are, the more talent is attracted here, says Robert Lagerstedt, Head of Engineering Excellence Bosch Nordic. ESS will not only attract researchers to come here but also everyone who is needed around them. In order to attract talent here, not only employment is important, but also other factors play a role, such as security aspects, that there is more than one possible company to work for.
Moderator Charlotte Lorentz Hjort of course took the opportunity to investigate what would make Lund an even better place for the companies.
- There are a number of challenges with being in Lund. One of them is that here there are not so many unemployed engineers. Engineers are attracted to working with challenges and the greater the challenges and the more leading-edge technology there is, the better opportunities there are to attract the best engineers in the world. The important thing is to raise the pressure that you want to live in Lund and work with the companies. To do this, it is important that the question of why you should move to Lund is answered in a good way, says Bert Nordberg, Chairman of the Board, Axis Communications.
One way to attract to Lund can be to expose the social contexts that exist.
- When we recruit from abroad, it is common for our candidates to want to move to some kind of “community”, and it would be good if there were information about which larger contexts to move to, both socially, professionally and corporationally, says Henrik Svensson, Research Director, Volvo Cars. Lund needs a lot of talent and it would be a good “selling point” if we could package the opportunities available through the university, the great diversity of companies, the good quality of life and the benefits that exist for families with children.
The opportunities with the Lund Innovation District are many and already there are examples of how increased cooperation can be beneficial. Alfa Laval works with technologies for heat transfer, flow management and separation.
- These are technologies that are important enablers for solving many of the challenges facing the world in water, food and energy, says Anna Celsing, Head of Sustainability, Alfa Laval. These transformations need to be done quickly but it is complex at the same time. To achieve this, we need many strong cross-sectoral collaborations, both in industry and academia.
Working with an innovation district makes us more attractive and creates a recipient capacity to receive offers, such as the major innovation funders from the EU.
Recently, Tetra Pak and Lund University launched Biotech Heights, an innovation platform focused on the food of the future.
- This is a way to ensure joint work in research and innovation for us, says Marie Sandin, CEO of AB Tetra Pak. Lund University has many strengths, including available labs, and then it will be up to us to add how to build pilots to industrial scale to ensure that together we can offer the food of the future. We in the Lund area have great opportunities to jointly make a difference, not only Tetra Pak and Lund University, but also other players in the value chain.
Moderator Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth works, among other things, on a major policy project for the EU and on university applications to the European major initiative KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) in the field of Culture and Creative Industries. She points out that major shifts are taking place in many industries in Europe.
- We in Lund must use each other to understand together what is going on right now. Working with an innovation district makes us more attractive and creates a receptive capacity to receive offers, such as the major innovation funders from the EU. It is important to have a functioning district that we can sell to the major partnerships so that Lund can become a strong player in the strategic development of Europe.
Work on the Lund Innovation District continues through working groups and discussions. See the website for more information!
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.
Earlier in the fall of 2023, an opening was arranged meeting with discussions about the Lund Innovation District.