Lund Innovation District with the vision “Global impact within walking distance”
Over the course of one year, stakeholders and stakeholders Lund Innovation District met to discuss, from different perspectives, what innovation capacity exists in Lund. A survey conducted with the help of Parlametric showed what those staying in the district think is important for it to be an extraordinary place for innovation. In addition, there have been discussions on how to create an attractive area with creative meeting places, inclusion and how to work with talent development. The tenth call was held in November 2024 and the topics were international connectivity and district governance.
Lund University Vice Rector Kristina Eneroth is responsible for international relations and spoke about international impact. Kristina started Lund University high placements in various rankings, which can also be seen as sub-measures of innovation ability in the district where the university is a central engine.
“Our ability to innovate increases the value of the Lund brand,” she says. It attracts talent which benefits the university but also the companies in the region. It is an ecosystem that is starting to spin on a global scale thanks to the work with the Lund Innovation District, which has made us known as a strong innovation site. Sweden is highlighted as an example of how to do it well and the Lund Innovation District is a district that stands out. (Read article about Kristina's Eneroth presentation)
Peter Kisch, Director of Operations at Future By Lund, spoke about what is needed for Lund to be able to measure up with other innovation districts in the world and pointed out how important it is to be able to demonstrate the area's intensity, performance and impact. To understand how to measure the three components, Peter Kisch showed examples taken from the United States.
- We in Lund need to do a benchmarking to measure ourselves against them. They are good at breaking down what they do into hard facts and we also need to address this from Lund's side,” says Peter Kisch. (Article from Peter Kisch and Martin Stankovski Clark's presentation)
Martin Stankovski Clark from Lund University showed some truths about Lund's Innovation District — such as that the university is one of the very leading in Europe for funding from the EU's Horizon Europe programme and that Lund is at the top in terms of how many startups linked to the academy file patent applications. In addition, he presented preliminary calculations on how Southern Sweden's innovation index in Europe would drop dramatically without the Lund innovation district and its ecosystem.
Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth, coordinator Lund ID and associate at Lund University's collaboration department, spoke about the governance of the Lund Innovation District and how the actors can jointly take the work forward. She told me that Lund through Future by Lund is a part of GIID (Global Institute on Innovation Districts), an international association of innovation districts. There, among other things, the actors exchange experiences with each other, and it turned out that governance of the site is what most people want help with. GIID has picked out a few factors that are significant to the governance of the district. (see picture)
- We will lead the district together and innovation actors, Lund Municipality, Lund University and the companies in the district are all part of the puzzle, says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth. We've had conversations to get everyone's perspective on the place, to create a concerted understanding and see how that takes us forward. Lund Innovation Talks is a way to highlight the power of everyone together and which is based on fire souls and empowering entrepreneurs in all types of organizations. Creating the common image and content of the Lund Innovation District is a collective effort.
In addition to the ten talks, two magazines have also been produced with the intention of showing the breadth of the place in the innovation area.
- There is a lot in Lund, but we also need to stay together and promote ourselves internationally by showing the total value of the place and selling each other. We have a common game plan and we need to have shared leadership and shared ambassadorship.
Municipal Board Chairman Anders Almgren spoke about the vision and ambition for the Lund Innovation District, including that the vision was “Global impact with in walking distance” early on and that it has taken hold and serves as an ambition setter in many discussions.
- In Lund, we have been fantastic at innovation for decades. It is impressive for a place that has created such great innovations that in many ways have made the world better. Our next export may be the community together and the cooperation that takes us further. We as a local community can become something to copy and for that we need to find a common narrative.
Anders Almgren also pointed to a change in the municipality's attitude in recent years.
- We have done away with an old habit where the municipality of Lund agreed to issues either 100% or not at all. Of course, there are still issues such as care for the elderly and childcare that are entirely municipal, but otherwise there have been many issues in which we are involved as a strong partner together with others. Lund Innovation District is typically such a collaboration.
The conversation ended with a Q&A session and a panel discussion.
*One question was about how to attract more people in the age group between 25 and 35 to settle in Lund.
- What we could do better is to level down thresholds and create new networks for those who have finished their studies so that we offer them new contexts. One idea could be more thematic environments where it is open to hang out with other interested people, suggests Peter Kisch.
* One proposal was to allow the Innovation District to be a platform on which to stand also for the unemployed and pensioners in order to better exploit the skills available in the area. Thoughts around this would be to create more networks similar to what the university has for alumni. There are also good examples of the fact that when large companies in Lund have been closed down, the skills have moved to other Lund companies.
* How can you create cross-linking between disciplines and where can students meet those who have other perspectives and get a reason to work in the gap? The answer was that to some extent it already exists through the nations but that the university will also launch x courses aimed at students who want to broaden, for example on AI. In addition, the Hackathon was discussed, which is a very good way to expand one's network, but in which international students mainly participate.
* Another thought was about how Lund can be more proactive and tell the city's story to the world. Getting others to tell about Lund — such as through university rankings is a good way, but there are prerequisites to do even more, such as allowing all actors to become ambassadors for the place and spread the story and message.
*Charlotte Lorentz Hjort was asked what the biggest challenge now is.
- The biggest challenge is collaboration and co-creation, she says. We need to understand that collaboration requires respect for other organizations and that sometimes we need to put down our organizational hats and enter collaboration spaces together. Training may be needed there, because we can get better at that kind of entrepreneurship.
* One question was about how we can now produce the data necessary to be able to demonstrate the capabilities of the district.
- Some data are already available through the municipality, the region, the EU and national databases, says Peter Kisch. Other facts we need to reason with companies about and see if they want to share.
- It is important that we can describe ourselves in a similar way to other places in the world in order to be comparable to others, continues Anders Almgren. With joint resources and efforts, we can solve this. It should not be forgotten that we are a small place in northern Europe and we may need to have low thresholds.
Previous conversations
Lund Innovation District with the vision “Global impact within walking distance”
The proximity makes Lund's innovation district unique
How can we present the innovation district's capabilities?
Human Rights Design as a Foundation for Innovation
Great interest in creating inspiring places
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
Creative spaces in Lund provide unique opportunities
“We need to get better at packaging and making the innovation district visible”
What does it take to take Lund Innovation District to the next level?
What makes the talents choose Lund?
New policy changes the playing field in Lund Innovation District
More about Innovation Districts
Link to the page about Lund Innovation District
GIID analyzes how successful innovation districts are organized
How is work organised with innovation districts in Lund?
Lund in international cooperation for the development of innovation districts
Survey of Lund Innovation District
Lund Innovation District survey — 10 interesting results
An inclusive innovation environment is an advantage to develop for Lund Innovation District
Collaboration, meeting places and networks develop Lund Innovation District