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CAREERS SPOTLIGHT ON SWEDEN & MEDICON VALLEY Crossing borders A spirit of collaboration — and an engineering icon — have together supported the emergence of a major scientific hub. BY NIC FLEMING ngineers may know Øresund Bridge as Novo Nordisk in Bagsværd, which has around its headquarters and a clinical development Europe’s longest road and rail bridge. 17,500 employees in the region, as well as by team in Copenhagen. Founded in 1999, it now Aficionados of crime dramas will forever smaller pharmaceutical companies. employs some 250 people and has 2 approved Eassociate the spectacular 7.8-kilometre section immunotherapeutic-antibody treatments. between Malmö and Copenhagen with the MAKING MEDICINE Genmab is also working on other antibody opening credits of the popular Swedish–Danish For early-career researchers intending to work therapies, and has more than 100 ongoing series The Bridge. For scientists in the region, in the region’s pharmaceutical sector, demand clinical trials for various therapies. its opening, in 2000, underpinned the develop- for solid computing knowledge has grown with For Jan van de Winkel, Genmab’s chief exec- ment of Medicon Valley, one of Europe’s strong- the rise of big data — many more businesses utive, Medicon Valley is ideally placed thanks est life-sciences clusters. now need trained number crunchers.“Once, to the proximity of major Danish pharma- Medicon Valley consists of the island of statisticians could primarily get work in the ceutical players, and Swedish universities and Zealand in eastern Denmark — home to pharmaceutical industry, insurance and hospitals across the bridge. “Being networked Copenhagen, the country’s capital — and finance, but now they are in demand all over, and gaining inspiration from others is key to KREHER/IMAGEBROKER/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK DANIEL the Skåne region of southern Sweden (see so we face more competition to recruit them,” Genmab’s success,” says van de Winkel. “I see ‘Science hub’). Its population of 4 million says Erik Kristensen, a human-resources a very positive future for Medicon Valley as amounts to only around one-quarter of the executive at Novo Nordisk. the connections between different parts of the combined population of the two countries. Yet The company — which produces drugs to life-sciences ecosystem grow stronger still.” the valley’s 41,000-strong life-sciences work- manage diabetes, obesity and haemophilia — is This growing emphasis on collaboration force accounted for 58% of people working in also looking for epidemiologists, pharmacolo- and networking is underlined by the rise of the sector across both nations in 2015. gists, protein scientists, medical doctors and the region’s science parks, where researchers, The hub is going through a process of change biologists focused on metabolic disease. entrepreneurs and established businesses learn against a backdrop of global disruption, creat- However, although Medicon Valley’s from each other. Before the bridge and the ing both challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical companies are hiring for creation of Medicon Valley, the only science researchers nearby. Some changes are playing specific positions, hundreds of jobs have been parks in the area were Ideon in Lund, Medeon out differently on either side of the bridge. lost in the sector over the past three years. The in Malmö and Symbion in Copenhagen. Since The 2008–15 period, for example, saw region’s companies are not immune to global 2004, three more have opened. Today, one in employment in the life sciences drop by 31% pressures facing the industry, not least the ten of those working in the life sciences in the in Skåne, but jump by 13% in the Danish part long-term decline in research and development region is based in a science park. of Medicon Valley. productivity. Big pharma’s issues have, however, The Copenhagen Bio Science Park This can largely be explained by events in the opened up opportunities for others. The bio- (COBIS) was set up in 2009 to support early- pharmaceutical industry. Most prominently, technology industry took off in the region in stage life-sciences organizations. It currently multinationalgiant AstraZeneca shut its research the 1990s, before the bridge was built. Today, hosts more than 100 start-ups and employs facility in Lund, with the loss of 600 jobs, in 2011. there are around 150 biotech companies in the around 350 people. COBIS rents out facili- Growth on the Danish side has been driven by region. Europe’s biggest biotech, Genmab, has ties, offers business-development services Øresund Bridge, joining Sweden and Denmark, supports a major science hub. S72 | NATURE | VOL 555 | 29 MARCH©2 0201818 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. ©2018 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. SPOTLIGHT ON SWEDEN & MEDICON VALLEY CAREERS and provides early-stage investment funding to promising projects. SCIENCE HUB “There’s a lot of buzz in the sector right Medicon Valley spans international borders now,” says Morten Mølgaard Jensen, COBIS with healthy collaboration. chief executive. “The number of new projects Sweden and companies spinning out of institutions is on the rise. We offer an environment where Denmark everyone knows each other and start-ups can get established while enjoying cheap offices Medicon and access to shared lab space.” Valley CROSSING OLD BORDERS Medicon Valley’s nine universities employ nearly 7,000 life-sciences researchers. Of these, Germany Poland the University of Copenhagen comes out top in terms of international rankings, publication volume and citations. As elsewhere, interac- collaboration acknowledge that life sciences tions between academia and industry have still face the challenges in the region. “We have grown, thanks in part to policy initiatives such everything Boston has,” says Søren Bregenholt, as the strengthening of technology-transfer chairman of the MVA and a corporate vice- offices, and wider cultural changes, including president at Novo Nordisk. “We have top how academics view industry. universities, great hospitals, pharmaceutical Nils Brünner, a cancer researcher at companies, biotech, a well-educated workforce, the University of Copenhagen, is one of a flexible job market and competences that many academics who have embraced this stretch from early research to manufacturing. environment. He helped to launch the start-up However, we are more diluted geographically.” Scandion Oncology in May 2017. The company Life-sciences leaders and politicians are discuss- is investigating a drug candidate that has shown ing new measures to combat this disadvantage, promise in enhancing the effects of some cancer such as improved cross-border research and treatments by overcoming drug resistance. development, knowledge exchange, clinical- Brünner says that ten years ago, as an trial collaboration, and coordination of efforts academic researcher, you wouldn’t want to to attract investment to the region. tell people you were partnering with industry Another issue is a lack of availability of local “because they might think you have a conflict capital, which can leave small but promising of interest. That has changed very rapidly, companies dependent on investment from and today academics are proud to work with abroad and vulnerable to foreign acquisition. businesses, and if you spin out a company you “We have start-ups and grown-ups, but we lack are a hero.” the scale-ups,” says Bregenholt. In 2015, for Brünner, a Dane born in Sweden, set up an example, Danish oncology company EpiTh- oncology-networking organization in 2016 erapeutics was snapped up for US$65 million by with the help of the Medicon Valley Alliance US company Gilead in Foster City, California. (MVA), a life-sciences industry body. This Large companies in the area also report seeks to drive progress against cancer through some recruitment difficulties. “People can get the sharing of ideas between academics and higher salaries in the United States and Swit- industry, from both sides of the bridge. The zerland,” says Kristensen. “Because of things MVA has also set up similar medical technol- like free health care and education, good ogy and microbiome networks in the region. transport infrastructure and a good work–life balance, however, we find that those that come INTERNATIONAL IMPACT tend to stay.” After the departure of AstraZeneca from Lund To outsiders, a life-sciences hub that crosses and several years of decline for life-sciences a national border and 8 kilometres of cold employment in Skäne, there are signs of recov- water might seem strange. Yet Skåne was part ery. The Medicon Village science park, created of Denmark until the seventeenth century, in 2012 at AstraZeneca’s former research facility and the two languages are very close. Øresund in Lund, now hosts more than 100 businesses, Bridge has brought the neighbours closer still. including biotech companies. Also in Lund are “Danes understand Swedes and Swedes the MAX IV synchrotron radiation facility, understand Danes,” says Brünner. “They have completed in 2016, and the European Spallation more or less the same cultural background. Source, an advanced pulsed neutron source Of course, there are differences in regulations, currently under construction. Next-generation research focuses and viewpoints. But it’s being materials-science facilities are expected to exposed to these that opens up possibilities to enhance Sweden’s reputation as a leading find more collaborators and achieve higher materials-science hub, providing insights standards.” ■ across a wide range of fields and creating job opportunities in nearby universities. Nic Fleming is a freelance writer based in Those who promote Swedish–Danish Bristol, UK. ©2018 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. ©2018 29Mac MARCHmillan Publi s2018hers Li m| itVOLed, pa r555t of S p|ri nNATUREger Nature. A|l lS73ri ghts reserved. .

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