Great interest in the work with Lund Innovation District

Caroline Wendt

Communicator, content manager, storytelling

Published

November 24, 2023

Categories

Innovation

Innovation district

Innovation management

In mid-October, an afternoon meeting on the Lund Innovation District (LID) was arranged and people from business, organizations, municipalities and universities gathered to discuss Lund's future opportunities. Kristina Eneroth, Pia Kinhult and Anders Almgren from LID's steering group explained the ideas of an innovation district and led the discussions. “It is possible that today we are building something new that did not exist before. We in Lund have already come a long way in this area — but we could deliver so much better if we could map it out better for ourselves,” said municipal board chairman Anders Almgren.

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.

Over seventy people from Lund's business community, organisations, municipalities and universities gathered to learn about and discuss the idea of the Lund Innovation District. Those present represented a variety of organizations, but are also individuals with an interest in developing the Lund Innovation District (LID) and Lund in general.

- There are probably not many times in Lund's history that corresponding competencies and stakeholders have gathered in this way, Anders Almgren pointed out.

Ahead of the discussions, Kristina Eneroth, Vice President for Cooperation and International Affairs, spoke at Lund University, a background on what an innovation district is. Kristina described an innovation district as a vibrant place where research, entrepreneurship, facilities and infrastructure converge. This can be an engine for growth, sustainability and job creation. An innovation district can be said to be a way to systematically drive development. (Read more about Innovation Districts on our website)

- In an innovation district there is a strong idea of where one is going and wants to be going. At the same time, no one can own this, but it is a united work around a common vision. All actors have their role to play. You need to specialise and work across the board. This is not a marketing activity but a way to start a development, Kristina Eneroth told us. Now we have to create an ability to get all the parts together in Lund!

The meeting was a start to this important work. Therefore, Pia Kinhult examined Head of Host States Relations, ACES, the audience's interest in the area and started by letting the word go free in terms of how to think around a common vision.

- A common broad vision is what we need, said Lotta Wessfeldt from Ideon Science Park. We have a lot of constituents that are necessary and have an innovation district but we haven't acted like that. There is a lack of common tone and common ground, and we can achieve this without too much effort, she said.

An ideal for an innovation district is that the distances between different activities are short and that there are meeting places that allow individuals with expertise in different fields to meet in a natural way. Pia Kinhult therefore wondered what Lund could do to remove barriers and become better at finding collaborations and interactivity. The answers to the question were many. One way could be to break down unnecessary red tape. Another speaker elaborated on how Lund can increase the chances of people with challenges and people with solutions successfully meeting each other. In other places, work has been done with architecture that allows people who do not normally talk to each other meet, and this could be an opportunity for Lund, perhaps especially important in connection with the large facilities ESS and MAX IV. Another idea was to collaborate and include funding in order for businesses to grow and for Lund to use its full capacity and potential. Finally, the students' expertise in creating meeting places was also highlighted as an important resource.

Anders Almgren then spoke about how Lund can mobilise a commitment.

- Lund is teeming with amazing innovators, world-leading researchers and amazing companies that are at the forefront of a myriad of industries. But the overall level of activity in the Lund ecosystem could be better. This is what we have gathered for today. We have already come a long way and this without being the world's best at crouching arms. Imagine how much better we could deliver if we found the conditions to map this out better for ourselves!

Anders Almgren also clarified Lund Municipality continued involvement in LID.

- Among other things, what we can contribute is to develop Lund as the place where you want to be, and contributing meeting places is important. The sum becomes more than the parts and that is Lund's strength. We believe in working with LID and that it is a step we must take to become the best Lund we can be, not only for us but also for future generations.

An innovation district can emerge in many ways and Lund's path is now that a steering group has taken the initiative and has chosen Future by Lund to catalyse the work. This first major meeting showed a great commitment from actors in Lund, and during the meeting many suggestions for important elements of the upcoming work were made. One was that the assembled Lund can use its innovation skills to build its own strength and assess for itself what is missing. Another attendee highlighted the need for entrepreneurs who can help scientists and inventors reach out with their ideas. Also more people with the ability to act as a transfer function between silos may be a need. The hope that Lund will be the first to implement the innovations and solutions developed in the city was also raised.

- Where is everything we develop? For example, we have the finest arable soil but where are the robots, measuring tools and drones that take care of it? Where do we have the intelligent water system? Lund should be the first to implement what we are developing, said Magnus Sjöström AFRY.

The meeting ended with a mingle where many stopped to discuss. The great interest in the topic was also noted by the fact that many people already asked about the next steps, new meetings and the work with common goals and visions.

What's going on right now?

Do you want to be involved in influencing the content about Innovation District? Future by Lund collects all interested opinions and hopes about the Lund Innovation District through a survey, you can find it here. The questionnaire will be analyzed by AI and therefore offers more opportunity for individual responses than traditional surveys. Link to the survey. Please spread it further!

Want to learn more about the Innovation District? During EU Days in Lund there are two programme points about the Lund Innovation District.

15 November 11.30 — 12.15 The Story of Lund Innovation District — Global Impact Within Walking Distance with a panel drawn from several of Lund's major companies and

15 November 13.15 — 14.00 Exploring Lund Innovation District: A Playground of Demos and Testbeds

Would you like to read about Lund Innovation District? Here you will find the material.

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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