On behalf of the Swedish government, the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova has decided on funding of an innovation cluster for commercialization, competence development and production capacity for advanced therapies.

The new cluster will serve as a national infrastructure and competence node for the benefit of companies throughout the country and it will also strengthen Sweden’s international competitiveness.

In total, 160 million SEK will be invested in the new cluster in the next two years, with the industry and the government contributing half each. Vinnova will invest 25 million SEK in 2023 and 55 million SEK in 2024.

Led by an industrial consortium

The new innovation cluster will be led by an industrial consortium, CCRM Nordic AB, consisting of AstraZeneca, CombiGene, Cytiva Sweden, Cytiva Testa Center, Getinge, GoCo Development, Takara Bio Europe, TATAA Biocenter and Verigraft. The cluster will be based in Mölndal outside Gothenburg.

For AstraZeneca, it is particularly pleasing that the innovation cluster ends up in GoCo Health Innovation City, next door to our research facility in Gothenburg.”

“For AstraZeneca, it is particularly pleasing that the innovation cluster ends up in GoCo Health Innovation City, next door to our research facility in Gothenburg. It gives us proximity to important infrastructure for advanced therapies and opens up unprecedented opportunities for collaboration within our efforts to develop new cell and gene technologies to treat diseases that affect millions of patients around the world. The new cluster will be a further important part of the life science cluster that is emerging around AstraZeneca in Sweden,” says Per Alfredsson, President of AstraZeneca in Sweden to NLS.

 

The new cluster will be based in Mölndal outside Gothenburg.

 

Advanced therapies – a strategic area

Advanced therapies, such as cell and gene therapies, enable more efficient healthcare as well as new and more accurate treatments that in the future can be used against major public diseases such as cancer and diabetes. They also constitute a large future market for the Swedish life science industry.

Advanced therapies is a strategic area with great potential for innovation, competitiveness and health where Sweden can take a leading role.”

“Advanced therapies is a strategic area with great potential for innovation, competitiveness and health where Sweden can take a leading role. A wide range of actors in business, academia, healthcare and the public sector, including Vinnova, have for several years promoted the development of Swedish capabilities in the area. There are now good conditions to move to the next stage of this journey,” says Darja Isaksson, Director General of Vinnova.

 

Darja Isaksson, Director General, Vinnova (Photo: Jenny Öhman/NLS) and GoCo Health Innovation City in Mölndal, Gothenburg where the new cluster will be located

 

Inspiration from Toronto

The cluster is to complement and tie together previous public infrastructure investments within this area, including Cytiva Testa Center and the Innovation Hub at NorthX Biologics in Matfors.

Inspiration for the innovation cluster has been taken from the Canadian venture Center for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) in Toronto, which for more than ten years has worked for the development of a strong ecosystem in advanced therapies in Canada through collaboration between government and industry.

 

Featured photo of Per Alfredsson: AstraZeneca/Mikael Kristenson