ENDING LAST MAY, Karl-Erik Johansson has been the Swedish project manager for an international project for two years. The project included six different European regions, Quebec and Massachusetts with a goal to establish business contacts and to find synergy effects between various projects.
- The European companies came from Bavaria, Catalonia, Flanders, Northern Sweden, Scotland and Austria, says Karl-Erik Johansson.
The project arranged fairs, seminars and business trips, e.g. one to the US and Canada.
- The companies involved got an opportunity to get in touch and meet with future North American partners. The trip included study visits, workshops, training and a visit to “Massachusetts 9th Annual Investor Conference in Boston”.
In total, more than 10 deals and international licensing agreements were finalised between the regions in this project and there was substantial interest from both European and American companies.
A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE between the Swedish/European biotech market and the American one is that there is more money in the US and the market is much larger.
- Boston and Massachusetts have been vanguard for 100 years in biotech and life sciences, and subsequently, they are ahead of us. There is more venture capital to get the process from research to commercialisation started. Collaboration between the business world and the universities is closer. Many individuals are working in both research and business, resulting in a different type and degree of cooperation.
Many European companies want to expand in the American biotech market, says Karl-Erik Johansson. However, be aware that although there is more money, the risks are higher.
LOOKING AT THE SWEDISH population, and especially in the north of Sweden where the biotech and life sciences centre is located, our research meets high international standards, says Karl-Erik Johansson. However, he wants more significant investments to establish companies in the market and improved collaboration between the business world and the universities, similar to the US.
- Uminova Innovation, one of the participants behind the two year project between Europe and the US, is assisting researchers and students to commercialise their business ideas. The new European network Enterprise Europe Network is working on faster launches of innovations on the international market as well as a business information unit. But there is more to be done, says Karl-Erik Johansson.
Emelie Ring