Ideas for Society

New meeting place and accelerator for environmental technology inaugurated in Lund

Caroline Wendt
September 29, 2020

GreenTech Village is a new meeting place and accelerator in environmental technology at Medicon Village. The accelerator is led by Cleantech Scandinavia and the premises on Scheelevägen 2 will be the place for developing innovative solutions for the environment and climate. Within the next 4-5 years the goal is to have nearly a hundred companies at the premises, both from Sweden and globally.

As of autumn of 2020 there is something entirely new at the property that once housed Astra Zeneca's reception. Upon entering, the visitor encounters the newly opened GreenTech Village. During the summer, the premises on the ground floor have been prepared to eventually accommodate companies in environmental technology with an international character.

The premises were inaugurated on September 1 with a small group of people present, amongst them two local politicians. Moderaterna’s Fredrik Ljunghill (M) appreciated that Lund has procured a GreenTech Village, both from the perspective of the climate and the companies. Anders Almgren (S) said that the inauguration shows the way to the future and that the accelerator will inspire development of companies, innovations and the environment.

The accelerator is led by Cleantech Scandinavia, which is an established stakeholder in the environmental technology area with an international network consisting of investors and industrial companies in energy and environmental technology as well as the public sector.

– Solutions to environmental and climate issues have a global market and there are great opportunities for companies in Lund and Sweden to grow through internationalization, says Magnus Agerström, CEO of Cleantech Scandinavia. By combining local and national companies with international, it is possible to create a dynamic and international environment that will be interesting for the industry and the investors. This environment can contribute to an increased development, higher tax revenues and more employment opportunities. By establishing GreenTech Village, Lund can position itself as a hotspot in the area and attract international industries and investment.

GreenTech Village is located in Medicon Village Science Park.

– Medicon Village offer places for meeting and innovation, such as "soft landing" to facilitate sustainable development, says Kerstin Jakobsson, CEO of Medicon Village Innovation AB.

Cleantech Scandinavia is part of Lund municipality's innovation platform Future by Lund, which has been involved with and helped to enable the accelerator.

– Lund has long been successful in environmental technology, but we need a place to unify, says Peter Kisch, project manager for Future by Lund. This is the starting point of a meeting place where startups, investors and larger companies in environmental technology can come together. It is important that we work to create permanent and specialized places to enable exchange between different areas.

Peter Kisch, project leader Future by Lund. Photo: Martina Åkerlund

To achieve these goals, GreenTech Village will work with four strategic initiatives.

1. Impact Venture Builder is a process by which research-oriented ideas are presented to successful companies through initiatives, such as matching ideas with the right team and establishing collaboration. The work is done in collaboration with, among others, EDF, Kraftringen, Eidsiva Energi and Grid VC. This strategy creates "home-grown" companies that are ready for an international market.

2. Nordic Cleantech Accelerator is an accelerator for Nordic and Baltic cleantech companies. Many of the companies come from the well-established start-up competition Nordic Cleantech Open, which is in its ninth year of running.

3. The Cleantech Acceleration Exchange Partnership is based on three international partnerships - Greentown Labs in Boston, InnovationQuarter in the Netherlands and NTU in Singapore. The partnership allows the Nordic companies to advance in these three markets and creates a flow of international companies that come to GreenTech Village to scale up their business.

4. League of International Testbeds is a collaboration between cities and testbeds in Sweden and the Netherlands with the intention of becoming an important force in international upscaling of innovations.

The municipal board in Lund has decided to grant financial support to the GreenTech Village project with SEK 350,000 for 2020 and SEK 150,000 for 2021.

Translation: Ben Dohrmann


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