Innovation clusters within advanced pharmaceuticals will strengthen Sweden's competitiveness

Advanced medicines, 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.

On behalf of the government, Vinnova has decided on funding of an innovation cluster for commercialization, competence development and production capacity for advanced therapies. It should function as a national infrastructure and competence node for the benefit of companies throughout the country and strengthen Sweden's international competitiveness. In total, the investment covers SEK 160 million over the next two years. Business and the state will contribute half each. Vinnova is financing with SEK 25 million in 2023 and SEK 55 million in 2024.

The 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.

- Advanced therapies are a strategic area with great potential for innovation, competitiveness and health where Sweden can take a leading role. A wide range actors in business, academia, healthcare and the public sector, including Vinnova, have for several years driven the development of Swedish capabilities in the area. There are now good conditions for the next step in the journey, says Darja Isaksson, director general of Vinnova.

The Swedish innovation cluster is to complement and tie together previous public infrastructure investments in the 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.