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Collaboration is our secret sauce

We’re a region well-known for coming up with cutting-edge solutions – in science, technology and business. It’s all down to our unique culture of cooperation, sharing and support.

4,4m Greater Copenhagen Region population

50/50 no. of men vs women in Skåne

9 cluster organisations in Skåne

Great at helping entrepreneurs

"In Skåne, and in Sweden, we are great at helping entrepreneurs. So if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, you can have all the possibilities to be successful!"

— Lotta Wessfeldt, deuty CEO, Ideon Science Park, Lund

An innovation leader

Skåne’s innovation leadership is down to our knowledge, people, educational institutions and organisations that help position southern Sweden at number 14 in the 2023 Regional Innovation Scoreboard which includes 238 regions in Europe. Having had a university since 1666, Skåne stands out as a growth, innovation and knowledge region. Skåne is also spends 3,6% of its GDP on R&D making it the third-highest contributor to R&D expenditure in Sweden.

Learn about Skåne's key Industries

Support for entrepreneurs

We have a strong system that helps companies and entrepreneurs develop and commercialise their ideas. This robust innovation infrastructure includes universities, research and technology parks, incubators and accelerators, research institutes, cluster organisations and agencies like Invest in Skåne who help anyone wishing to establish a business, invest in a local startup, or expand their company in Skåne.

Learn more at Invest in Skåne

Gamechangers & changemakers

Skåne is no stranger to groundbreaking ideas. We’re a region famous for disruption in a country that tops global innovation rankings. Some of the pioneering inventions that we cannot do without today - like Bluetooth, the medical ultrasound, the modern ventilator, and even nicotine gum, face recognition technology and Oatly plant milk all come from here!

Discover inventions from Skåne

1944 Artificial kidney is invented

1994 Bluetooth is invented

2005 Hövding bicycle helmet is invented

Portrait of a smiling man looking in to the camera. He wears a cap, silver colored glases and a brown vest over a shirt.

"Skåne has a lot of knowledge, talent, infrastructure, and a market that's interested in testing new ideas. All within close proximity of each other. We also have a well-developed network of publicly funded incubators that work hard to help start-ups take flight and succeed."

Jens Almqvist

Business Designer at Krinova Incubator & Science Park, Kristianstad

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"In Scandinavia, we have a really strong tradition of private-public collaborations in different forms. We have a long tradition of the government, the regions, and the public sector investing in innovation support systems."

Petter Hartman

CEO, Medicon Village Innovation, Lund

A unique workforce

In addition to an open environment for sharing, collaboration is even more effective when there is a diversity of highly-skilled people around the table. Skåne is extremely international and one of the largest and most knowledge intensive markets in the Nordic region, which is a fantastic recipe for innovative, groundbreaking ideas. The southernmost part of Sweden is also home to some of the most highly educated people, courtesy of the leading universities in the region, like world-renowned Lund University.

Work in Skåne

Creating value together

The final essential piece of our collaborative approach for innovation here in Skåne – one that brings it all together and contributes to creating an energetic, open and welcoming region – is the quadruple helix model of innovation. It’s a conscious effort to ensure collaboration between academia, industry, government organisations, and local communities. This creates value between the various actors, and especially for civil society as it can provide jobs and products for improved healthcare, for example.

Cross-border collaboration

Did you know that one of the biggest European collaboration projects is taking place in the Skåne's city of Lund? Advanced research infrastructure, European Spallation Source, or ESS, is a collaboration of 13 European nations to build the world's brightest neutron source. Both Sweden and Denmark act as host nations for the facility opening in 2026.