innovation in scanbalt bioregion
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EuroFocus�D
ISCUSSION
DISCUSSION New Biotechnology � Volume 25, Number 1 � June 2008
EuroFocus
Innovation in ScanBalt BioRegionPeter Frank, pf@scanbalt.org, Elise Kvarnstrom, Frank Graage, Wolfgang Blank, Anna Pytko,
Tuula Palmen, Andrew Munk, Mairita Coneva and Jaanus Pikani
Research driven clusters have gained in
importance in the global economy due to
changes in the nature of competition between
locations and company practises. This has
strengthened the interest in cluster
development to increase the impact of policies
and to provide a platform for more effective
cooperation between the public and private
sectors on competitiveness issues [1]. Therefore,
clusters and cluster development are now seen
as important instruments to develop and
implement innovation policies. Overall, it has
been established that the EU within innovation
should operate on threemain areas for action [2]:
� MCo
24
ore mobility of people, finance, knowledge
and organisation is needed to form new
partnerships.
� B etter Intellectual property protection. � M ore resources must be mobilised to reachthe 3% GDP target of R & D spending, the
objective of the Lisbon agenda.
In particular the EU sees the trans-national
dimension of knowledge-transfer as a key to face
the implications of globalisation of markets and
industries. Compared to North America the
average European university generates far
fewer inventions and patents due to less
systematic management of knowledge and
intellectual property, cultural differences
between the business and science communities;
lack of incentives; legal barriers and a
rresponding author: Peter Frank (pf@scanbalt.org)
www.elsevier.com/locate/nbt
fragmented market for knowledge and
technology [3].
In the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), for most
of the 1990s, the goals for cross-national
cooperation were primarily political, while
economics ultimately played only a supporting
role. When the Baltic countries and Poland
became members of the EU in 2004, the
balance between these goals and the role
of the BSR as a tool in achieving them
shifted. Economic development and
other practical matters like health,
environmental protection, energy and nutrition
have become dominant goals and the
institutions of the European Union have become
the focal point for many cross-national
discussions and policies [4].
At the European Presidency Conference in
January 2008 in Stockholm organised by BSR-
INNO Net, the European Cluster Memorandum
was signed. The Memorandum was performed
on the initiative of the EU Commission. Key
points of the Cluster Memorandum are that
Europe is particularly weak in the transformation
of ideas into new products, that clusters are
powerful catalysts in the process to improve
innovation and should function like connected
territorial hubs. The memorandum concluded
that the European Institutions, in particular the
EU Commission, should ‘strengthen the
support for results-oriented trans-national
cooperation between clusters and ‘taking into
account proximity involving neighbouring
countries’.
1871-6784/$ - see front matter � 2008 Els
ScanBalt BioRegion
The ScanBalt BioRegion is composed of
life science and biotechnology actors in the
Nordic countries, Balticum, Poland, Northern
part of Germany and North western Russia. The
ScanBalt BioRegion has 11 countries and 85
million people, more than 1002 research
institutions and departments including 60
Universities, plus 2173 life science/biotech
companies, including 671 research-based
biotech SME’s [5]. ScanBalt BioRegion is also
called a meta-region. (A macro-region is an
evolving social level between the nation and the
international global level; the EU is a macro-
region. A micro-region is one or several adjacent
trans-national region(s) which within the
framework of the macro-region seeks for a niche
or expresses a common interest. A meta-region
is a region of regions (between already formed
micro-regions) within the framework of the EU
macro-region [6].)
Within the ScanBalt BioRegion, Germany,
Sweden, Finland and Denmark are listed
among the top 12 biotech locations on a
global level [7]. Life sciences and biotechnology
in the new EU member states Poland,
Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania enjoy a high
level of academic research, combined with
highly qualified professionals. Even though
the industry is still in its infancy, governments in
the East European parts of BSR regard life
sciences and biotechnology as among the
most important factors in their countries
growth. All in all, BSR takes a prominent
role in the field of life sciences and
biotechnology. In the State of the Region
Report 2007 from the Baltic Development
Forum, it was concluded that ‘The cluster
portfolio of the region (BSR) is solid but a
region-wide strategy to develop it is required, in
the face of increasing competition among
evier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nbt.2008.04.014
New Biotechnology �Volume 25, Number 1 � June 2008 DISCUSSION
FIGURE 1
ScanBalt BioRegion as a cross-border innovation system.
EuroFocus�DISCUSSION
clusters within Europe and globally’. ScanBalt
BioRegion constitutes such a strategy and fulfils
the recommendations in the European Cluster
Memorandum.
Strengthening SME-based innovation
Taking into account the findings and results
from earlier EU funded projects (1) ScanBalt
CompetenceRegion, (2) ScanBalt Campus and
(3) ScanBalt IPKN, a ScanBalt BioRegion
Innovation Task Force (SB ITF) during 2006 and
early 2007 suggested key actions to be taken in
order to strengthen SME-based innovation in
ScanBalt BioRegion. The efforts focus on
enhancing trans-national bridges between
public research and SMEs, in order to create new
ventures and strengthen competitiveness of
existing ones, in a circular movement between
basic research, applied research and market
orientation based on open innovation
approaches to R&D, combining in-house
expertise with external resources and aiming to
maximise economic value from their intellectual
property. These suggestions led to the Bridge-
BSR project cofunded by EU 7th Framework
Programme and coordinated by ScanBalt. Other
partners are Steinbeis Team North East, BioCon
Valley, IPPT-PAN, BioForumOulu,Medicon Valley
Alliance, Association of Biotechnology of Latvia
and the Estonian Biotech Association. Bridge-
BSR works to develop shared SME support
services between the clusters in order to
enhance SME participation in EU programmes.
In addition it mobilises private financing for
projects, which have passed the public pre-seed
financing stage, through the initiation of a ‘Top
of Europe’ financing network. Finally Bridge-BSR
integrates IP-management in two ScanBalt
Campus Knowledge Networks and develops a
Joint SME Innovation Agenda to be used for
mentoring.
Mentoring actions and procedures are
powerful tools in BSR due to the disparities
between the regions. They promote
coordination of high quality research activities
within and between the regions, clusters and
networks by enhancing the awareness of local
competencies and infrastructures throughout
the partner regions and by establishing the
necessary personal contacts and motivation. In
particular in the new EUmember states, there is
a huge potential for increased regional
coordination by strengthening links at all levels.
This will promote targeted regional and national
investments in regional clustering and attract
private co-financing as well as promoting better
use of EU instruments. Strengthening the meta-
regional framework conditions for such
collaborations and providing model cases in
addition promotes collaboration and
coordination between the management,
technological development and scientific levels.
Such efforts taken together will enhance the
benefits from regional RTD Infrastructures on
regional economic development to be
integrated into regional strategies in ScanBalt
BioRegion.
New ScanBalt strategy 2008–2011
‘Innovation on Top of Europe’
The ScanBalt Executive Committee in March
2008 agreed on a new strategy for the years to
come. The strategy views ScanBalt BioRegion as
a cross-border innovation system aiming to
strengthen support and service to the members
in order to enhance the development of clusters
and networks within the ScanBalt BioRegion plus
the interactions between them. ‘Coopetition’ –
collaboration and competition – is a pre-requisite
for the success of the ScanBalt BioRegion.
Figure 1 shows the components of the
innovation systems currently established or
under establishment in various projects:
With the new strategy, ScanBalt will promote
regional economic development through
knowledge creation, education, life long learning
and mobility, research, technology transfer and
innovation processes within life sciences and
related social sciences in accordance with
ScanBalt values. ScanBalt will help to face
challenges of relevance for the Baltic Sea Region
population within health, environment, energy,
nutrition, agriculture and marine resources and
be a forum for discussions of the impact of life
sciences on society.
In order to achieve international
competitiveness it is crucial to enhance regional
clustering between regional/local authorities,
public research and enterprises (triple helix) as
cluster development increases the impact of
policies and provides a platform for more
effective cooperation between the public and
private sectors on competitiveness issues. By
combining the local dimension of clustering with
cross-border efforts the meta-regional added
value chain will be strengthened and lead to
increased coordination of public-private
research R & D, more and better regional
R & D investments and effective use of EU
instruments.
For more information, see http://
www.scanbalt.org/.
References
1 State of The Region Report. (2006) ‘The Baltic Sea
Region – Top of Europe in Global Competition’, Christian
Ketels and Orjan Solvell, Baltic Development Forum,
October 2006
2 Commissioner Janez Potocnik. (2006) Investing in
research, speech, Copenhagen 17 October 2006
3 Improving knowledge transfer between research
institutions and industries across Europe: embracing
open innovation, EU Commission, Brussels 4.42007
COM (2007) 182 final
4 State of the Region Report: The Baltic Sea Region as a
Place to do Business, Christian Ketels, Stockholm School
of Economics, November 2007
5 According to ScanBalt Yellow Pages, http://
yellowpages.scanbalt.org/
6 Hettne, B. (1977) Den europeiske paradoxen.
Nereniuous & Santerus Forlag
7 Beyond Borders, Global Biotechnology Report 2006,
Ernst & Young
www.elsevier.com/locate/nbt 25
DISCUSSION New Biotechnology � Volume 25, Number 1 � June 2008
EuroFocus�D
ISCUSSION
Peter FrankScanBalt fmba, Arne Jacobsens Alle 15, 2 2300Copenhagen S, Denmark
Elise KvarnstromScanBalt fmba, Denmark
Frank GraageSteinbeis Team North East, Germany
26 www.elsevier.com/locate/nbt
Wolfgang BlankBioCon Valley, Germany
Anna PytkoIPPT-PAN, Poland
Tuula PalmenBioForum Oulu, Finland
Andrew MunkMedicon Valley Alliance, Denmark, Sweden
Mairita ConevaAssociation of Biotechnology of Latvia, Latvia
Jaanus PikaniEstonian Biotech Association, Estonia
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