Ideon is shaping up for the future
Ideon was founded in 1983 through a collaboration between Lund University, then Malmöhus County, Lund Municipality and the business community. At that time Ideon was Sweden's first research park, and the operations were designed to fit the innovation environment of the time. 40 years later, it was time to bring together the three parts of Ideon — Ideon AB, Ideon Innovation and Ideon Open — under the name Ideon Science Park. The business of Ideon Open has been discontinued and the consultants who were employed in the company have started their own consulting company through Open XLabs.
“When I started at Ideon innovation 3 ½ years ago, I wondered why there were three companies,” says CEO Anders Nilsson. We talked about working more together and had lots of overhead. It turned out that Ideon's owners agreed that it would be better with a corporation. Since then we have been working towards becoming a joint organisation and 2023 was the time.
Although it can be seen as a major change, the original idea of Ideon remains.
- The basic mission of the business is to commercialize research from the university, to create sustainable growth in the region and to provide it with a workforce, says Vice President Lotta Wessfeldt. Next, we turn to how we do to create the best conditions.
Since the start of Ideon, the number of innovation operations and incubators has increased and now there is a wide range. In Skåne, for example, there are several other strong research parks — such as Medeon, Smile and Medicon Village in medicine and Krinova in food. Since Ideon are focused on Tech and Deep Tech, the research parks complement the hike well.
- We see Ideon both as a physical place where we will create value for the companies in the area, but also work with tech companies throughout Skåne in the areas we invest in, continues Lotta Wessfeldt.
Ideon Science Park includes everything from small startups and smaller companies that have existed for a long time to scale ups and large companies such as AXIS Communications.
- Our goal is to stand for business development, and the younger the companies, the more hands on, says Anders Nilsson. For companies, we are market complementary in quite a lot of what we do. For larger companies, it is often about their need for clusters, partners and networks and how the university can contribute. For many, it is also important to be part of the Ideon brand, not least when recruiting.
As a research park, Ideon has always worked with thematic areas. Now Ideon is looking at what areas are important for the future.
- We are looking at where we can make a difference, says Anders Nilsson. It is important what the municipality, the region and the universities see that we can contribute. We are currently looking at different areas, such as the semiconductor issue, AI, cybersecurity and the defense issue through dual use.
Ideon Science Park also has a space incubator that has recently become part of Swedish Space Innovation Cooperation (SSIC) whose goal is to develop new digital collaboration methods and services in the space sector. In addition, they are part of a preliminary study on a test bed for drone activities outside Ljungbyhed.
- We are working together on how we can make this accessible to the business community. Many people may think that they do not work with drones, but may be related, for example, by making parts needed in a URS system or having services or products that can be delivered with drones.
Ideon is also very involved in the national body for Science parks, Swedish Incubators & Science Parks (SISP).
- It is important that we act nationally for a strong Skåne, but also that our work is linked to a national strategy. Swedish cooperation is needed for this to have an impact, points out Lotta Wessfeldt.
Ideon has a location in the middle Lund Innovation District with proximity to universities and many small and large companies but is also next door to Medicon Village.
- The physical location has that great value. The geographical proximity and geographical smallness of Lund are very important. In this we see ourselves as a piece of software in the hardware where we can give companies the possibility of interaction and to build networks. We can create the rooms in the big picture, this is the benefit that even the big R&D companies testify to.
The collaboration in Lund is something Anders Nilsson and Lotta Wessfeldt keep coming back to. Cross-border Talent Bridge is a project owned by Lund Municipality in which Ideon is heavily involved together with Medicon Village and Copenhagen City, among others. The project aims to attract and retain international talent. The CoAction Lund collaboration project led by Lund Municipality includes 25 actors working together on sustainability in mobility and energy systems. There, Ideon will be involved in helping smaller companies test their sustainable ideas against industry to create opportunities for commercialization. Ideon is also, of course, next door to Medicon Village, and the cooperation has recently become increasingly clear.
- We are pleased that the municipality recently built a pedestrian crossing over Scheelevägen. It facilitates the flow between Ideon and Medicon. We are two strong arenas with the same mission in terms of growth and attraction. Companies in this geography can benefit from both offers in the form of networks, programs and projects, it should not be delimited by the address. Together we are a superpower,” concludes Lotta Wessfeldt.