Ideon science park

in Swedish

When the Ideon Science Park turned 30, a book was written about its history—one as full of adventure and personalities as the best companies at Ideon. More about Ideon's history ↓

Ideon is, first and foremost, a major property company positioned as an innovation center bridging academia and business. The name "Ideon Science Park" is both a brand and an umbrella organization, working to strengthen its innovation profile and attract tenants in various ways.

This IDstory explores three aspects of Ideon:

• The property company Ideon ↓
• The Ideon brand ↓
• Research parks and welfare in the future ↓

The Property Company

Since July 2013, the properties—covering roughly 120,000 square meters—have been owned by the publicly listed real estate group Wihlborgs↗. Former owners include Ikea (via Ikano Fastigheter AB), Lund University, and Erik Penser.

The property company offers spaces of various sizes—see available offices↗ at Ideon. There’s also a service organization for IT, reception, conferences, and more: office services↗.

The Ideon Brand: Who Benefits?

Key stakeholders include the property company’s owners, the City of Lund, the university, and the companies at Ideon.

The Ideon brand is owned by the SUN Foundation (an acronym for University and Business Collaboration). Most of the branding work, however, is undertaken by the first three. An article in Sydsvenskan from August 2006 referenced a report noting that Ideon had unclear goals, an imprecise strategy, and weak attention to its brand ... Above all, uncertainty over what Ideon "really" stands for. Ideon management acknowledged this criticism and promised improvements. Much has changed since then.

Customers Matter More Than Being at Ideon

For some Ideon companies, there's clear networking value in their location. I saw this firsthand with IDstories—one of the pioneers in IoT (IDstory)—which had offices and labs at Ideon from 1998 to 2001, when we were called Bar-Mail and counted Ericsson Mobile Communications among our clients. We developed a barcode reader for mobile phones and held a few patents in global information services.

Even then, I found it much more valuable to say Ericsson was a client than to say we had development offices at Ideon. Over the years, I’ve asked many people the same thing: What matters more—being at Ideon, or having recognized clients? Everyone answers that client references are what really count.

These days, it’s ever more important for startups to gain customers as early as possible. This is reflected in concepts like MVP—Minimum Viable Product—and lean start-ups as Eric Ries writes about. My view: young companies probably benefit less from the Ideon brand than is often claimed, and far less than they might believe. Showing tangible business success, no matter how small, is far more important.

The History of Ideon

The Stanford Research Park↗ enW started in 1951. Ideon—the “Science Village”—was officially opened in 1983. For 30 years, very little changed in Sweden’s approach to research parks, but in 1981, chemistry professor Sture Forsén read a Financial Times article (‘The case for another science park’) about a new science park in England—the first in England had appeared in 1973. He realized this was something Sweden, and Lund, needed too.

In November 1981, Lund University held a policy day, where Forsén presented his vision for a research park in Lund. The ball began rolling, but there were many twists before construction began.

If you find this story interesting and want insight into how business, academia, and politics navigated the Ideon project, read the book The Idea of Ideon: A Research Village Is Born by Professor and former Lund University rector Håkan Westling, published as the university history society’s annual volume in 2001.

Provincial governor Nils Hörjel played a pivotal role. He even convinced Finance Minister Kjell-Olof Feldt that IKEA should free up SEK 120 million of locked investment funds for a property company on what would become Ideon. Regional councilor Lennart Linder-Aronsson and, called an “indispensable workhorse” in the book, Sven-Thore Holm (for many years CEO at Teknikbrostiftelsen / Teknopol), were also co-creators. Today, they’re part of Innovation Skåne↗.

Research Parks and Future Welfare

Marie Löwegren earned her PhD in 2003 with a dissertation probing the benefits companies get from locating in a research park. Her conclusion: those led by “green” leaders gain the most from park-provided advisory support, while more experienced managers derive less benefit.

In a piece in ESBRI magazine, Marie Löwegren noted that Sweden has only 3–4 true research parks. Many claiming the label are, fundamentally, business hotels.

References

• About BiBB, a media company and an encyclopedia 4.0
• Ideon | Map and contact
• Håkan Westling, Idén om Ideon. Book
• Text/photo: Johan Schlasberg | (Bar-Mail - now BiBB uppslagsverk AB had a tech lab at Ideon for three years)

Companies at Ideon

• Not currently updated

Published: 2006.10 Updated: 2025.09.11

Kategorier 20 Fastigheter 47 Lund 16 Om IDstories

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