Square
Facts
The business philosophy of the Swedish Trade Council is to make it
easier for Swedish companies to do business abroad. It has its headquarters
in Stockholm and a network of 42 foreign offices in 35 countries.
In addition, the Council works with Swedish embassies, consulates,
and chambers of commerce in various countries. It has more than 400
employees and, in the year 2000, showed a turnover of SEK 500 million.
The Swedish Trade Council is owned by the Swedish state and by
Swedish industry.
The Swedish Bioscience Programme is one of around 15 national networks
within the Swedish Trade Council. These networks join together 1,500
companies for the purpose of strengthening export. |
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Swedish
Biotech Goes International
The
Swedish Trade Council’s new industry sector programme has
been designated the “Swedish Bioscience Programme”.
The aim is to help Swedish companies in the biotech field to
find new markets abroad.
“We are applying special efforts targeted towards promising
industries,” says Ulf Dinkelspiel, who has headed the Swedish
Trade Council for the last six years.
Previously,
similar efforts were directed towards IT and environmental technology,
programmes that are still running successfully. Now, it is biotech’s
turn. The Swedish Bioscience Programme started at the beginning
of the year and has turned to the media to broadcast the message
about Swedish biotechnology, and it has participated in exhibitions
and seminars both abroad and in Sweden. Foreign representatives
have also been invited to Sweden for the presentation of Swedish
companies.
“We wish to make known that Sweden has a strong presence
in this area. Our biotech industry is the fourth strongest in
Europe,” states Mr. Dinkelspiel.
Internationalization Necessary
There are currently about 200 companies in the biotech field
in Sweden. Most of them are concentrated around university towns,
with the majority in the Stockholm and Uppsala regions. Half
of all the biotech companies can be found there.
“There are many small companies here that have large international
markets,” says Mr. Dinkelspiel. “They need an additional
boost.”
According to Mr. Dinkelspiel, a small population represents
a limited market—which is why we are more dependent on
export than many other countries—as opposed to the U.S.,
which already has a vast domestic market.
Cooperating for Increased Market Shares
There are several reasons for Sweden’s having a strong
biotech industry. In Sweden, companies do not solely regard
each other as competitors. On the contrary, small biotech companies
build up a network of alliances with other companies, both large
and small. This makes it possible for them to cooperate and,
in that way, reach out to new markets, something that otherwise
would be difficult for independent small firms with but one
product.
“What the Trade Council does is to work within this process.
We identify the needs of companies and their interests, and
we try to establish platforms that the companies themselves
can use to operate from. Furthermore, we want to encourage companies
to carry out the marketing of their company and products themselves,”
explains Ulf Dinkelspiel.
As examples of two companies that he believes will grow and
become noticed he mentions Pyrosequencing AB and Biovitrum AB,
the latter a spin-off from Pharmacia.
Good researchers
Traditionally, Swedish research within biotechnology has been
carried out at the big pharmaceutical companies and at the universities.
But a change is under way, nowadays there are many small firms
in the game. Another reason is that we have a high health-care
standard with good statistical documentation, something that
is necessary for carrying out research in the field.
Furthermore, Sweden has some-thing called a “research exception”,
which means that researchers own the rights to their own discoveries,
and not the universities. This may be part of the secret as
to why Swedish research happens to be so far out in front in
the biotech field. |
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