EuroFocus�D

ISCUSSION

DISCUSSION New Biotechnology � Volume 25, Number 1 � June 2008

EuroFocus

Innovation in ScanBalt BioRegion

Peter 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]:

� M

Co

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 reach

the 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