About us

Skåne and the world face major societal challenges in several areas. Meeting them requires new solutions, innovation. In addition, in Skåne, the job growth is low. That is why we work to meet global challenges with innovation power from Skåne.

Innovation Skåne works for Skåne and for the world around us, so that innovative power from Skåne can make a lasting difference in the world. We are Region Skåne’s innovation company and together with private and public actors we guide and develop new opportunities for innovation and growth that improve Skåne as well as the world. We do this in innovation areas where Skåne possess uniquely good conditions to meet global needs.

When we use innovation to contribute to the development of Skåne, we also contribute to the development of local innovations that can be disseminated in the rest of the world. And vice versa, when we support local innovations in their growth and willingness to go global, we can also benefit from the innovations here at home. Global and regional challenges are often similar, it turns out.

Innovative power from Skåne create sustainable improvements in the world

Innovation Skåne’s vision

We make it happen

An idea does not become an innovation until it’s implemented and creates value. That is why we always work to ensure that what we do is actually being put to use and that it creates real benefits. At Innovation Skåne we put ideas into action and make it happen, for real.

All our work is based on our four core competencies, the combination of these makes us unique in the innovation system.

Innovation management: Our tool for leading innovation and development of welfare services of the future.

Growth and business knowledge: Our staff has long and extensive experience from both the public and private sector and is well aware of the challenges – and opportunities – in, for example, regulations, organizational culture and the market.

Test beds: We create test beds within the innovation areas we operate in order to test and adapt new solutions and working methods based on for example technical, clinical, legal or organizational parameters.

Networking: We establish networks consisting of all relevant stakeholders within a specific area, such as startups, established businesses, public actors, academia, investors, and residents. Our extensive networks provide us with many opportunities for collaborations in larger projects and opportunities for vast market intelligence research which ensures that we make use of what has already been developed and what works.

Three innovation areas

We focus our work on three innovation areas: health, foodtech and mobility. We have previously worked in other areas, and may in the future work in completely new areas. We continuously analyze the possibilities for how we can contribute and make use of our competence. We do this based on five criteria. In order for us to address certain challenges in a specific innovation area, all five criteria must be met.

Regional societal needs: There must be an urgent and unresolved need in the public sector in Skåne that can be solved with innovation.
Global demand: There must be an urgent and unresolved global need or demand so that the companies or solutions developed in Skåne can grow internationally.
Regional know-how: There must be a regional know-how that can address the needs within the innovation area. The regional know-how must be sufficient enough to be able to, together with other stakeholders, push the development of the innovation area.
Entrepreneurial drive: There must be individuals and organizations that work to develop new solutions which meet the needs and develop successful businesses.

Timing: There must be needs and demands in the market within a reasonable timeframe, a maximum of five years from now. The needs mustn’t already have been successfully met. The innovations must have a chance to compete internationally.

In other words: We take on challenges where no one else has yet established solutions, products or systems that successfully solve the needs.

We use the same five criteria when we decide which projects we should run or participate in.

To ensure that we take on the right challenges, and thus the right innovation areas and the right projects, we continuously monitor what happens around the world. Global monitoring ensures that we continue to act as pioneers in our innovation areas, and that we make use of what has already been developed and what works. We stay up to date on developments in the industries we work in, health, foodtech and mobility, and monitor, for example, international forerunners, adopted solutions and technological trends.

Cooperation across borders

Innovation Skåne never work alone. In everything we do, we work together with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors. We also regularly work with other actors from the innovation system and with the academy.

It’s in the borderland between the public and the private sectors that we have our unique position. We have extensive experience of working in both publicly owned organizations as well as in private businesses and we understand the challenges and opportunities on both sides. All our experience indicate that the two sides need each other and that it is when we work together that we achieve the best and most sustainable results that benefit both Skåne’s residents and ensure that Skåne’s innovative power can make an impact in the world. The position in the borderland between the public and the private provides Innovation Skåne with a power of action that is unusual for public organizations.

Working together with other actors also ensures the sustainability of our work. We need actors that can manage and continue to develop the innovations we jointly developed. Because when we have reached our goals in a project or innovation area, we make an exit in order to take on new challenges.

Region Skåne’s innovation company

Innovation Skåne is a wholly owned subsidiary of Region Skåne. We receive core funding from our owner Region Skåne which enables the company’s existence. However, the core funding also enables Innovation Skåne to attract external innovation capital from public actors in Sweden and the EU. Every year, the core funding is more than doubled through the inflow of external innovation capital to Skåne through Innovation Skåne. The ability to attract external funds is essential in order for us to achieve our goals.

In addition to attracting innovation capital, we also gain significant knowledge that benefit ourselves as well as Skåne. Our continuous market intelligence and interaction with actors around the world means that we are constantly up to date on the latest technologies, new products and services, and new working methods and systems. We are well placed to work to attract relevant companies and their solutions to Skåne as well as to share knowledge we gain with public and private companies in the region. The fact that we continuously monitor what’s happening around the world and acquire knowledge that can benefit Skåne is, just as in the case of innovation capital, essential in order for us to achieve our goals.

Our core values

It’s not only important for us that we achieve our goals, also in what way we do so matters to us. That is why our core values are important, they are the ones that describe, challenge and inspire us. The core values permeate our entire organization and our way of working. Everything we do should be characterized by pioneering, partnership and professionalism. We are…

Pioneers: We take on challenges where no solutions yet exist. We are curious, brave and enjoy venturing into the unknown. We are pioneers who love innovation.
Professionals: We guide and develop innovation from Skåne, and we do so with leading knowledge about innovation. We show humility and respect for our mission.
Partners: We collaborate with startups and established businesses, the public sector and civil society to create cross-border solutions that meet society’s challenges. We are responsive and trust our partners and each other.

A new kind of organization – teal

Innovation Skåne is a self-organizing organization, based on a so-called teal model. This means, among other things, that we are guided by common goals and organize ourselves into working groups for specific tasks. It also means that the leadership is distributed in the organization, we don’t have any managers. Instead, all employees act in accordance with the framework that has been set up jointly and at their own discretion. Decisions are taken through an advisory process. The way we organize means, for instance, that we can make better use of all employees’ skills and that we as an organization can act quickly when needed. Our new kind of organization makes us forerunners, we try new things – just what we often recommend others to do. Innovation Skåne has worked according to a teal model since 2019, the work of refining working methods and creating structure is constantly ongoing.

Innovation in Skåne

Innovation Skåne was founded in 2015, but predecessors to the company have roots much further back in time than that. And Skåne’s history as a significant region for innovation stretches even further back in time. In Skåne, world-leading technology and companies such as Zoégas, TetraPak, ProViva, Absolut Vodka, Gambro with the artificial kidney, the medical ultrasound and Bluetooth technology have their origins. In recent years, the region has nurtured companies such as Massive Entertainment, Oatly, Hövding and Joint Academy.

Skåne hosts globally leading technology companies, innovative startups, world-leading research and a supportive innovation system. Together with individuals’ passion for entrepreneurship and their power to innovate, this has turned Skåne into one of the world’s most innovative regions. As recently as 2021, Skåne was ranked as the ninth most innovative region in the EU in a report from the European Commission, closely following regions such as Berlin and Copenhagen. Despite this, Skåne faces several unresolved societal challenges and too low job growth. The innovation work continues.