Medicon Village part of HEALTH CITIES, a European-level consortium aimed at improving local conditions for the life science sector

Medicon Village and the City of Lund will jointly represent Lund in a larger consortium of partners spanning Sweden, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, and Ukraine, in an Interreg Europe-financed project called HEALTH CITIES. The initiative aims to improve local policy instruments for municipalities in Europe that want to establish innovative ecosystems that support the flourishing of the health and life science sector, especially for entrepreneurs and startups.

The consortium spans 9 partner organisations across 8 cities and 7 European countries, and will focus on the following key objectives:

• To foster entrepreneurship and innovation in the health and life sciences industry through strategic alliances with participating European cities.
• Improve the governance of health and life sciences ecosystems to create more business opportunities and job creation.
• Strengthen support services for emerging companies and SMEs in the sector.
• Develop strategies to attract and retain qualified talent in the sector.
• Promote interregional cooperation and the transfer of good practices.

The partnership includes the following organisations:

• Ajuntament de Sant Cugat del Vallès (Spain) – Lead partner
• Regional Development Agency Utrecht Region (the Netherlands)
• Toulouse Métropole (France)
• Department of investment policy, projects, international relations, tourism and city promotion of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council (Ukraine)
• Pannon Business Network Association (Hungary)
• Ministry of Public Administration and Spatial Development (Hungary)
• Medicon Valley Alliance (Denmark/Sweden)
• City of Lund (Sweden)
• Medicon Village Innovation (Sweden)

“The Draghi report emphasises the crucial role of cities and regional clusters in driving Europe's sustainable economic growth, and advocates for empowering local administrations to actively engage in high-growth sectors. We are therefore proud to support the City of Lund in this initiative, that will serve to profile Lund’s innovation capacity and vibrant life science ecosystem in a European context. We also look forward to building bridges with other strong and emerging life science ecosystems in Europe to strengthen the internationalisation opportunities for the companies and organisations in our life science ecosystem here in Lund and Skåne,” says Sarah Lidé, Deputy CEO, Medicon Village Innovation.

The project will take place from 1 May 2025 to 31 July 2029, and is partially co-financed by Interreg Europe.

For more information on the HEALTH CITIES initiative, please contact Sarah Lidé (sarah.lide@mediconvillage.se).