DRUID Winter 2007

The emerging Biomedico industrial cluster in North Jutland: wishful thinking or reality?
Dagmara Stoerring DRUID, IKE Department of Business Studies Aalborg University Fibigerstraede 4 9220 Aalborg ds@business.aau.dk

1 Introduction
Cluster policies have become a central part of regional and national policies all around the world because innovative clusters of companies have been recognised as drivers of regional development. Most of researchers agree that this widespread of the cluster concept can be attributed to smart selling of the concept as a policy tool by Michael Porter (Lundequist and Power 2002). North Jutland - as many other regions in Europe and the world - is also hosting a cluster initiative within biomedical technology that was started around 2000. One of the origins of this initiative may be the fact that the Danish government adopted a national strategy for development of Biomedico industries as growth potentials from 2000 (Regerings handlingsplan Biomedico omrdet, 2000). Moreover on regional level the actors interested in local economic development had noticed local strengths in biomedical area while looking for new industry that could supplement or eventually replace the existing Mobile Telecommunications (NorCOM) cluster. Biomedical area is considered as the most promising from the industrial development point of view in almost every European country, therefore it is not something exceptional in our case. Also other regions in Denmark claim to have emerging clusters in biotechnology (Aarhus, Odense, and finally Medicon Valley, actually recognised by the academia as a working cluster). The problem with the cluster concept is that it is used everywhere in very different ways. This is connected to the problem of cluster definition that gives free choice to choose what a cluster is. We are not sure whether the cluster concept is the right theoretical approach in our case and whether we can call the Biomedico in North Jutland a cluster at all. However, we can see in the rhetoric of people involved in this initiative that it is an ambition to call it a cluster. Actors involved in this initiative have prepared a publication Biomedical Technology in North Denmark: Science Innovation Business 2003 where they have presented a Figure showing the total cluster and its components (Figure 1). Interestingly they write that right now the total biomedical technology cluster is at the beginning of a significant takeoff. In the dimensions research, education, networking, Venture Capital and health sector - the region is already above the critical mass. Only the industry has not yet reached the critical mass on this figure. This shows that even the people that believe in the cluster existence or the potential for its emergence are aware of the problem with the industry in relation to clusters existence (although the other competences such as Venture Capital and other business supporting services may have been overestimated as well). Stoerring 22.01.2007 1

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Figure 1: Biomedico cluster in North Jutland. Source: White Book: Biomedical Technology in North Denmark

Figure 1 shows the understanding of the cluster concept by the regional policymakers and their perception of which elements are needed for a cluster emergence. This cluster initiative has given an agenda to my PhD, and provocatively this Figure in some sense has given framework for my study. It is also the reason why I use the cluster concept to study the biomedical competences in North Jutland. Looking at the Figure the first question is how the different components of cluster have been selected, what indicators the both axes show, and finally, what is the critical mass. This Figure is a good example of the confusion with the cluster concept. This cluster initiative has been presented in our previous work where the focus was: 1) on clusterpreneurs: the actors important for cluster development and the role of regional setting for cluster emergence (Stoerring and Christensen 2004), 2) the role of regional university for this cluster initiative (Stoerring 2005), and 3) the process of cluster emergence (Stoerring and Dalum 2005). In the last paper we have compared the development of the NorCOM cluster with the possible emergence of Biomedico. This comparison was based on two recently presented models on cluster emergence: (Feldman, Francis et al. 2005) and (Carlsson 2005). The conclusion was that although the region of North Jutland has features of agglomeration of university research competences in biomedical area it is difficult to decide on the stage of emergence of Biomedico due to the small number of companies. In that paper we have chosen the more entrepreneurial literature looking at path dependency in a cluster development, thus we cannot say that we have so far comprehensively investigated the question: whether an industrial cluster of companies within biomedical technology does exist in the region of North Jutland taken other approaches in the literature. The present state is that until now we have claimed that it is difficult to talk about an industrial cluster in North Jutland and were using the wording cluster initiative or an emerging cluster. Answering the question about the existence of the industrial cluster in Biomedico is important because as we have seen even the persons that started this cluster initiative admit that their cluster has not yet reached the critical mass of companies in the region. It would also be interesting to show which definition of clusters or critical mass our clusterpreneurs use here. We split our research question in two directions: Stoerring 22.01.2007 2

DRUID Winter 2007 1) answering on the general level what qualifies for being a cluster drawing on broad knowledge of clusters and theories: what qualifies a region for being a cluster, when do we know that it is a cluster when we see one. This part should result in distinguishing indicators of clusters, in spite of the fuzzy words that some authors talk about while discussing clusters (Martin and Sunley 2003). 2) To investigate whether Biomedico Aalborg matches up these indicators. We will look at our empirical example and discuss it in relation to the theory. We are aware of the methodological problem with analysing an emerging cluster. Most of the clusters in the analytical literature are identified after they have emerged. An Ex-post analysis is used and this involves different analyses as we should show in the next section. We start with a literature overview: looking at different approaches of clusters we establish several indicators of industrial clusters that characterise different definitions of clusters such as: regional specialisation, formal and informal linkages among companies, horizontal vs. vertical linkages, competition vs. collaboration, critical mass of companies, untraded interdependencies, awareness about being in a cluster, social capital, etc. In this part of the paper we try to answer on a more general level the question: when we know that it is a cluster when we see one. In the second part we try to answer the question whether Biomedico in North Jutland can be considered as an industrial cluster according to any of these indicators. We start with looking at the company list that was prepared by cluster organisation that is a common method in cluster studies. Furthermore we identify other companies that are not included on this list by other sources. One of our tasks is to investigate what is the industrial competence base in the region and what is the regional embededness of these companies. The paper proceeds as follows: In the first section we start with a literature review where we present different definitions of industrial clusters and indicators of clusters. In the second section we present our empirical case and discuss empirical findings with respect to different indicators of cluster existence. In the final section we try to answer our research question with some indications for further research. Our case study is based on a database of Danish industries and the detailed interviews with local actors. Our study does not have to lead to yes/no answer; it may be a discussion of a problem, e.g. a discussion of factors indicating a presence of a cluster in relation to Biomedico in North Jutland.

2 Theoretical framework
In this paper we aim to answer the question whether we can really talk about an emerging industrial cluster in biotechnology/ medical technology or maybe biomedical technology (as the clusterpreneurs define it) in North Jutland or whether this is only/still a wishful thinking of the clusterpreneurs. Already while introducing the research question about an industry cluster we see the problem of chaotic concept of clusters that has been emphasised by Martin and Sunley (Martin and Sunley 2003). The problem of defining a cluster can also be discussed in relation to a general problem of putting system boundaries in any innovation system approach (Carlsson et all 2002). The discussion about cluster boundaries may lead to the conclusion that the cluster framework might be the wrong one in this case. At the end of this paper we can attempt to answer the question: is it good to use a cluster framework in this case? Through the last two decades a huge amount of academic and non-academic papers on the development of clusters has been produced. It is not easy to classify this writings, partly Stoerring 22.01.2007 3

DRUID Winter 2007 because of the complexity of the cluster literature. I have chosen to present after Wolfe and Gertler two approaches to the cluster concept that might be observed in the literature: - political approach: an overarching framework to guide policy-makers in the design of initiatives to promote cluster development; - analytical approach connected to Porters definition of clusters with the aim to generate analytical results that explain the factors of cluster development. This approach very often provides advice to local and regional policy-makers in crafting their development strategies. I will divide the theoretical framework into these two approaches starting from the political one. In other words: In the research community the cluster approach has most often been turned into a tool for identification and classification of interrelated firms and assets. However, for policy-makers it is something of a buzz word that represents a shift away from narrowly focused firm-based strategies to a more holistic approach to regional economic development (Lundequist and Power 2002). According to Wolfe and Gertler cluster literature has applied the cluster concept in two different ways: First, as a functionally defined group of firms and supporting institutions that produce and market goods and services from a group of related industries that are concentrated in a specific geographical localisation. This approach takes a point of departure in the cluster definition that is very similar to the Porters (Porter 1990). The second approach is more an overarching framework to guide policy-makers in the design of initiatives to promote development of clusters. The main purpose of the first approach is to generate analytical results that can explain the mechanisms of cluster development. This work could provide guidance to local and regional policy-makers in preparing their cluster promotion and support strategies. In the second approach we have very often more applied practitioners that ideally should work on the basis of the results of the first approach in drafting policy guidelines. Unfortunately it is done in a rather limited way. The practitioners very often limit their interpretation of the more analytical cluster studies to the elaboration of lists of the critical factors for cluster development derived from individual studies of the most successful cases. These lists used by policy-makers can be counter-effective as they very often do not take into account the region- and industry-specific factors. Furthermore, the two strands of research tend to be connected in the reverse order with the policy goals sometimes predetermining the analysis, rather than the other way around.

2.1 Political approach

In the political stream we have authors that mostly describe the cluster initiatives/case studies. We can find many writings on political clusters, cluster policy, that use cluster concept as policy instrument aiming at enhancing regional development. Here we can find different classifications of clusters or rather cluster initiatives. Our research question and the title of this paper refer to the vocabulary used in the political approach: wishful thinking clusters, thin air, etc., although we are not interested in policy analysis in this paper that should rather describe the main case in the analytical way. Enright (Enright 2000) defines wishful thinking clusters (or policy driven clusters) as those chosen by governments for support but which lack a critical mass of companies or favourable conditions for organic development and he provides examples of governments initiatives for electronic and biomedical clusters or broadly defined high technology clusters. Lundequist, similar to Enright, distinguishes four models of cluster approaches including among others: top- down public policy exercises in brand building and visionary projects to produce an industry cluster from thin air (Lundequist and Power 2002).

Stoerring 22.01.2007

DRUID Winter 2007 We would like to start with presenting a cluster definition by Michael Porter as this definition is the most popular among practitioners and might be treated as a starting point and a reference point for many political initiatives. Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated institutions (e.g. universities, standard agencies, trade associations) in a particular field that compete but also cooperate. Clusters, or critical masses of unusual competitive success in particular business area, are a striking feature of virtually every national, regional, state, and even metropolitan economy, especially in more advanced nations (Porter 1998).

2.1.1 Putting Porter into practice in Sweden

Lundequist and Power study putting Porter into practice in recent cluster initiatives in Sweden (Lundequist and Power 2002). This article is a very good example of the political approach in cluster literature. The authors already at the beginning emphasize that it was a rather partial process when the actors involved had used a very selective version of the concept: Swedish policy-makers use the term cluster as something of a buzz word that represents a shift away from narrowly focused firm-based strategies to more holistic regional economic development approaches; in particular to partnership approaches such as those underlying current EU regional policies (Hallin & Lundequist, 1999). This article according to the author is clearly within the political approach where the existence of systems of functionally systems and functional interconnectivities that are more or less geographically concentrated is an assumption. The article focuses on these as the policy objectives to be worked on in a cooperative long-run dialogue. Thus this article sets out to examine the use of the cluster approach not as an analytic tool (e.g. for empirical cluster identification, SWOT analysis, or benchmarking) but as a proactive policy tool and approach based on negotiated and, often, collaborative efforts to manufacture and utilize visions of regional development futures to good effect. On the basis of 13 cluster cases from Sweden the authors distinguish four different models of cluster building processes in relation to the policy mode: (1) industry-led initiatives to build competitiveness and competence within an existing base; according to the authors it is the most Porterian approach (2) top-down public policy exercises in brand-building; (3) visionary projects to produce an industry cluster from thin air; (4) small scale, geographically dispersed, natural resource based, temporal clusters that link into global rather than national and regional systems and sources of innovation, competitive advantage and strategic assets. According to the authors all of these initiatives can be considered as successful ones in spite that none of them fully match up to Porters definition (1990) of what a cluster is and how it should proceed. The first model includes private sector-led initiatives to build on existing strengths and it is illustrated by an aluminium industry cluster (Aluminiumriket) in southern Sweden. In this case educational and community development strategies of private sector illustrate a bottomup approach based on a solid previously existing base. On the contrary the second model shows a top-down cluster branding exercise. The case of Medicon Valley in the resund region of Denmark and Sweden is according to the authors an example how the joint vision of the Danish and Swedish governments to create a region that would become Europes pre-eminent hub for life-sciences R&D and production turned into reality. Two important elements were notable for his cross-border cluster: Firstly the role of the public sector as an initiator and the driving force and, secondly, the cluster-building Stoerring 22.01.2007 5

DRUID Winter 2007 strategy going from the development of the brand name first and foremost with other aspects of the clusters development (e.g. networking, competence development) following on the second place. The third model is called producing an industry cluster from thin air and goes beyond the Porterian approach as in the cited example of TelecomCity in Karlskrona in south-east Sweden we have a total transformation in regional economic base and there was no connection between the regional strengths and cluster initiative. The city and its surroundings were known from traditional heavy industries and now it is one of Swedens fastest growing municipalities with 20% of its workforce employed in telecoms and IT. The cluster has its roots in the decision of local authorities and public sector actors to reinvent the city as a leading international infocom development environment with a focus on telecommunications: named TelecomCity. The thin air in this case was a small presence of Ericsson since 1947 and very few high-tech and telecommunications firms in the early 1990s that according to the authors is too little to talk about any kind of path dependency in this case. In the Karlskrona case we could rather talk about the cluster vision that was a cluster imagination or a wish-list. The authors emphasise four aspects that were crucial for the development of this cluster: the presence of lead firms with visionary managers and industrial success; the existence of dynamic key players, cluster motors or drivers coming from the public and private sector; targeted division of labour and responsibilities within the cluster organisation TelecomCity partnership network such as increasing R&D operations; firm-level and firm-student cooperation; encouraging and nurturing spin-offs; attracting new entrants; marketing the TelecomCity brand, increasing students numbers, etc. The fourth dimension focus on quality of life is very untypical for cluster initiatives and distinguishes the case from the previous ones. Another example of the cluster building from the thin air or from nothing to something is an initiative to develop a national knowledge and educational node in music and digital media Rockcity in Hultsfred. The fourth model of temporal clusters based on natural resources or physical conditions is illustrated by the automotive test industry cluster in the extreme north of Sweden in inland Norbotten. The main asset of this cluster are naturally provided ice-tracks during winter that is very different from the typical assets of clusters such as industry competence, human capital, etc. The region became a part-time world-leading node in the global automobile industry. One of the challenges for the region is how to transfer this part-time cluster into the full-time one. This could be done through developing of another temporal cluster, on the contrary built on the summer environmental asset: wilderness tourism. This paper exemplifies the stream of literature concentrated on cluster policy and cluster initiatives. Typical for this streamline of literature is the conviction about the fact that the cases represent successful cluster initiatives, although the authors admit that none of the presented cases fully much the Porters definition, which is somehow a starting point for them. As many of such studies the paper concludes with a presentation of a number of key features common to successful cluster initiatives.

2.1.2 Enrights wishful thinking clusters

Enright might be an example of writing about cluster development from both political and analytical approach. The developed by Enright categorisation of clusters according to the geographic scope, the density, breadth, depth, the activity base, the stage of development, the nature of the technological activities, the ownership structure should among others improve cluster understanding and can inform policy and strategy: Localised clusters, dense clusters, deep clusters, and activity-rich clusters have a greater chance of fostering inter-firm communication and interaction that can be a source of Stoerring 22.01.2007 6

DRUID Winter 2007 competitive advantage. These clusters are, other things being equal, more likely to be high innovation clusters that benefit from the globalisation of economic activity. Policy toward such clusters often is best geared toward supporting existing sources of advantage (Enright, 2001). Another categorisation developed by Enright concerns clusters level of activity and selfrealisation, i.e. the extent to which the cluster is self-reinforcing and to which extent the existence of cluster is politically and strategically conditioned. Here the following categories describing the state of development of clusters are distinguished: Working clusters in which a critical mass of local knowledge, expertise, personnel, and resources create agglomeration economies that are used by firms to their advantage in competing with the firms outside the cluster. Working clusters are characterised by a common knowledge of the interdependence of local competitors, suppliers, customers, and institutions. Latent clusters have a critical mass of firms in related industries sufficient to acquire the benefits of clustering but have not yet reached the level of interaction and information flows necessary to truly benefit from co-location. There might be different reasons to this insufficiency: a lack of knowledge of other local firms, a lack of interaction among firms and individuals, a lack of common vision of the cluster, or a lack of the necessary level of trust for firms to find and exploit common interest. Potential clusters are those that have some of the elements necessary for the development of successful clusters, but where these elements must be deepened and broadened in order to benefit from agglomeration economies. Policy driven clusters are those chosen by governments for support, but which lack a critical mass of firms or favourable conditions for organic/self-reinforced development. These are often selected to support on the political basis and they are governmental attempts where there are few advantages (but still some competence). Wishful thinking clusters are policy driven clusters that lack, not only a critical mass but any particular source of advantage that might promote organic/self-reinforced development. Here we can include many of the electronics and biotechnology clusters found in government programs, as well as many of what tend to be called potential clusters. Enright acknowledges that this categorisation is very useful to conduct policy as it already determines which kind of cluster promotion strategy should be applied. Thus, this categorisation may be included into the political stream of cluster research. However, in order to decide to which kind of category a certain case belongs to we need an analytical work deciding on many elements that are difficult to measure, especially the critical mass of companies as we will be discussing in the next section. The two last categories are of our particular interest as we are asking whether Biomedico North Jutland is not a wishful thinking cluster. According to Enright the recommended cluster promotion strategy in case of a wishful thinking cluster would be either more creative approaches or exclusion from support program. Most of the studies within the political approach result in a list of common elements of cluster development strategies. In Enright the most important elements are: - improvement of the generalised business environment (e.g. reviewing tax policy, examining regulations, reducing costs of services),

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DRUID Winter 2007 providing information and data on business and economic trends, markets, customers, competitors (governments often commission consulting reports), providing basic infrastructure, education and training specific for the targeted cluster, fostering business networking and inter-firm collaboration (informal networking through introductions, industry associations, etc.), providing business services (basic research, market research, materials testing, business process consulting, accounting and record keeping), community building (working towards common purpose), assessment and improvement of government policies and programs (checking whether they are supportive for private sector development).

One can also find several guidelines of best practices that could remind you of consultant work. Enright provides also with this kind of list: - Have clear goals. - Develop a sensible mechanism for identifying and prioritising clusters within an economy. - Get the relevant actors on board. - Use analysis to build urgency in the minds of participants. - Go after little victories first. - Target real market failures. - Build appropriate cluster organisations. - Focus on building up the institutional and support systems for the clusters. - Commit to clustering, not to individual clusters. - One size does not fit at all. - Terminate initiatives that fail and those that no longer need public support. Discussion of political approach should follow.

2.2 Analytical approach

As the aim of our paper is finding indicators of clusters, the analytical approach seems to be the proper one. The cluster literature has expanded enormously during the last 20 years. People write about clusters from very different perspectives, using different definitions of clusters, different methodologies, and different examples. It is very difficult to revise all the literature but one can try to look at the main underlying themes that are regularly coming back in the analytical literature about clusters. For the first the literature attempts to answer how the clusters are started and to what extent their emergence can be caused by policy. The main issue in this strand of literature is path dependence. Most of these studies take an historical perspective to track the origins and evolution of specific clusters. According to Malmberg and Maskell (2002), these historiographic studies attribute the emergence of the cluster to some natural or social factor endemic to particular location that triggers or stimulates a certain type of activity by a local entrepreneur. After this launching of initial activity the cluster develops through new firms that spin off from the anchor firm or engage in related activities. Another important factor here is location inertia the degree of embeddedness of firms to the region of their origin. The main problem in this approach is tracing the critical or initial cluster founding event. For the second the literature is looking for the explanation of clustering process in the nature of knowledge and learning in clusters. Here the first approach dates back to Marshallian Stoerring 22.01.2007 8

DRUID Winter 2007 agglomeration economies, the benefits of co-location of firms such as better access to certain collective resources, e.g. a specialised infrastructure or a specialised local labour market. The second approach emphasizes the role of knowledge and learning processes in sustaining clusters, often on the basis of locally embeddied tacit knowledge. Here another aspect of the knowledge flows in clusters is often discussed linkages to other clusters through the sharing of knowledge. Situating clusters within an international hierarchy is also important. The third theme concerns the scale of analysis, placing the cluster concept within a broader institutional setting of regional, national and even supranational levels. The main question is the nature of the relationship between the local cluster and other analytical framework of reference, such as national and regional innovation systems. According to Michael Porter clusters can be started by different ways, however, they cannot be just started anywhere from scratch. The key assets of clusters are firm-based (Porter, 2001). In most of the famous stories the main role was played by one or two firms that are often called as a lead or an anchor firm. These critical firms can be a source for development of further firms that are created through spin offs. Feldmans analysis of emergence of the Capitol region cluster in USA emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurship in driving the development of that cluster (Feldman, et all 2005). Another way of the influence of the anchor on cluster development is when this key firm acts as a magnet and attracts other firms, both co-operators and competitors to the region. Other authors emphasise that the magnet role can be played by highly skilled specialised labour seeded in local companies or local organisations such as research universities or public research institutes. All researchers agree that the process of cluster emergence takes very long time. Public-sector interventions can have different impact on cluster development: negative or positive but also targeted/intentional or unintentional. There is a more and more popular hypothesis saying that the public interventions in supporting cluster emergence seem to be the most effective in the development of the asset-base of skilled knowledge workers (Wolfe and Gertler, 2001). This part is to be completed.

2.3 Main indicators of clusters

On the basis of the previous section we distinguish the following indicators of clusters we consider to be important to identify a cluster: 1) Industry specialisation a lot of people say that a cluster is only when we can observe a high value of specialisation index in a geographically limited area. However, looking at the cluster definition we can already see the problems of a broad cluster clusters are composed of companies from related industries and industry classifications are very often too narrow. Furthermore, if you take other cluster such as Silicon Valley or Cambridge, you can see that they include everything/different industries that might be called high-tech. However, these people do not mention linkages between these companies that are an important part of the cluster definition. This means that using only the specialisation index is not enough. 2) One has to look at linkages. And here we have different kinds of linkages: horizontal and vertical (not only in the supply chain but also including other types of organisations (e.g. universities, research institutes), formal and informal.

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DRUID Winter 2007 3) Competition vs. collaboration. This brings us to another type of theory of clustering proposed by Maskell. Maskells knowledge theory of clustering gives a framework to look at linkages another interpretation of clustering process, especially important for the emergence stage. Maskell presents an explanation of the important issue of competition vs. collaboration that is within Porters definition of cluster. 4) Informal contacts that move us to the social aspects of clustering that were a black box in the original concept by Porter. Something is in the air, untraded interdependencies. It is important to have a form of social infrastructure, social capital, institutions, soft factors that we have already investigated in earlier papers. 5) Critical mass of companies (Cooke) that can create a cluster. Here also discussion on related variety whether it is important to have a big diversification in the cluster, different types of organizations coming from different parts of value-added chain both service providers and production. According to Cooke it is not the quantity but the quality of R&D innovations within these companies that decide upon the regions competitiveness on the international level (Cooke 2001). In the discussion of critical mass I could use some references to T. Brenner, e.g. introducing discussion about self-augmenting processes. 6) Specialised labour market (a feature for more mature clusters). Marshallian agglomeration economies. 7) Competence base (for emerging clusters). Does it qualify as a cluster if there is only a competence base? A competence base does not always develop in something commercial and certainly not into a cluster. 8) How the clusters grow/ the population of companies can grow. There are three ways of cluster emergence: spin-offs (from existing companies or research institutions), re-location, and establishing subsidiaries (Brenner, Maskell). 9) Awareness about being in a cluster here the two approaches merge as this indicator is close to the political approach and cluster initiatives. How important is awareness about being in a cluster (Enright), cluster branding. An image, a cluster brand is important to attract companies, VC to a region and this can give a boost e.g. Medicon Valley. Other points that should be discussed in the theoretical framework: - Main problems of the Chaotic concept of clusters: addressing the problems pointed by Martin and Sunley (Martin and Sunley 2003) - Putting system boundaries is a cluster approach a relevant one in our case? referring to a general problem of putting system boundaries in any innovation system approach (Carlsson et all 2002).

3 Empirical analysis
In the second section we present our empirical case and discuss empirical findings with respect to different indicators of cluster existence. In the second part we try to answer the question whether Biomedico in North Jutland can be considered as an industrial cluster according to the indicators identified in the previous section. Below I present some preliminary analysis

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3.1 Identifying companies from the cluster organisation list

We start with looking at the company list that was prepared by the cluster organisation. Starting from the lists prepared by industry associations is a common method of cluster identification. Methodology The list of companies within the Biomedico cluster in North Jutland (Annex I) has been prepared/created taking a starting point in three main sources: the White Book on Biomedical Technology in North Jutland published in 2003, the competence catalogue prepared by the cluster organisation in 2004, and different sources including the BioMedCommunity homepage, official publications concerning the region, articles in newspapers, and finally, interviews with main actors in the regional development. We verified and added information about the companies with data from Danish statistical databases such as KRAK and VCR and with the information taken from the firms homepages. Companies within the Biomedico We have identified 60 companies that are to a certain extent related to biomedical technology. The list of companies (Annex I) shows that there are very different industry codes; we can distinguish: production companies, wholesalers, service companies, etc. Very often the relation to biomedical technology concerns a very small part of company activities, e.g. a single product or the companies might be suppliers (or potential suppliers) to other companies. Due to this diversity we have divided the companies into three groups: wholesalers, R&D companies, and production companies. We find the following industry codes (NACE classification of four digit) that are repeating in every category: A) Wholesalers (9 companies): 51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods (6) 51.86 Wholesale of other electronic parts and equipment (2) 51.43 Wholesale of electrical household appliances and radio and television goods (1) B) R&D companies (30): 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering (14) 72.22 Other software consultancy and supply (7) 74.20 Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy (2) 74.30 Technical testing and analysis (1) 72.21 Publishing of software (1) 85.14 Other human health activities (1) C) Production companies (21): 33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances (8) 24.42 Manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations (3) 28.52 General mechanical engineering (1) 25.24 Manufacture of other plastic products (1) 32.30 Manufacture of television and radio receivers, sound or video recording or reproducing apparatus and associated goods (1) 36.63 Other manufacturing n.e.c. (1) 29.12 Manufacture of pumps and compressors (1) 30.02 Manufacture of computers and other information processing equipment (1) 35.43 Manufacture of invalid carriages (1) 36.11 Manufacture of chairs and seats (1) 31.10 Manufacture of electric motors, generators and transformers (1) Stoerring 22.01.2007 11

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R&D companies We can see that majority of the companies are research and development companies (30) but just about half of them are more related to biomedical technology. Here we find many companies that can rather be called development projects of the university scientists that very often aim at patenting their inventions (BioNano Photonics, Cardiotech, Mermaid, Immupharm, JNI Biomedical, Medicode, NanoNord, Neurocon, Neurodan, NeuroRetrain, NoxiTest Biomedical, Orthocam, OT Light, Paromatic, Partran, Thomsen Bioscience1). Sometimes the patents were further licensed to other companies. This was the case of Partran technology within the hearing aids that has been sold to Microsound (based in Silkeborg). Another successful example is Neurodan that has been sold to an international concern OttoBock. Neurodan is closely connected to Neurocon and NeroRetrain, as it owns majority of these companies. The support of the local VC company NOVI Innovation was very important for founding these companies. The next within this category are 8 companies related to IT and software services. We find here also RTX Healthcare. SMI Danmark has developed a system distributing clinical information products in Denmark (Micromedex database). Anybody Technology is another university start up that might be rather called a development project. For Check Vision (image processing), GateHouse (satellite communications), Hugin Expert (decision support) medical applications are marginal areas of their activities. Finally we have 2 companies in the architectural consultancies that provide with clean room and hospital design solutions (Birch&Krogboe) and vacuum based technologies for manufacturing of thin films and structures in the nano- and micro-range (Polyteknik). For both companies this is not a core activity. The last company is Eurofins Denmark, a consulting company within environmental, food and pharma technologies, a subsidiary of the international group Eurofins Scientific with branches in the United States and most of Europe2. Production companies In this group the majority are companies within medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances (Bang&Olufsen Medicom, Cortex Technology, Ditens, Hadsund Maskinteknik, H.C. Equipment, Judex, Oticon). Moreover we find here representatives of very different industries. One of these companies Flextronics was included into the list because of its involvement in the cluster initiative. It has been interested in medical applications of mobile phones, however, with selling of its production facility in Pandrup, it is not present in the region anymore. Here we can distinguish a group of companies that are subsidiaries/production facilities for large firms with main seat and major R&D activities in the Copenhagen region: Oticon (Thisted), Novo Nordisk (Hjoerring), Coloplast (Thisted). They have moved its production to North Jutland partly because of better availability of lowskilled labour. To these companies we could also include Nycomed in Hobro, producer of tablets and vitamins. Another group is companies that produce equipment and solutions for physically disabled people: H. Meyland Smith changed into Meyland Smith, and RBM. These two companies are connected to Anybody Technology from R&D companies. Finally within the production companies we find firms suppliers for biomedical technology products: BMV Maskineteknik (medical subsupplies), TransElectro (supplier of transformers for medical devices), and Mekoprint Electronics (supplier of plastic and metal components). Wholesale companies
1 2

They are all university start-ups. Eurofins Scientific is a leading international group of laboratories providing an unparalleled range of testing and support services to the pharmaceutical, food, environmental and consumer products industries and to governments.

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DRUID Winter 2007 The bulk of the wholesale in the region are pharmaceutical goods (Actera, Beaute Pacifique, Cephalon, Epoka Medic Mission, Medico Nord, Scan-Co). We have also companies that are distributors of electronic parts and equipment: Devitech (imaging systems) and Microsound (a company that Partran has been sold to). Ascon that is mainly distributor of radio devices has been included because one of its products are hearing aids and parts for hearing aids.

3.2 Cluster dynamics

Figure 2 shows the netto growth of companies in the cluster since 1980. We have chosen to show this dynamics starting from 1980 because there are only three companies that were established before: Jun-Air (1946), Bang&Olufsen Medicom (1978), and Oticon (1976, however, it moved to the region only in 1996). All of these companies are within a group of production firms. It shows the development in the cluster during last 26 years, thus we can talk about a long term perspective that allows observing dynamics in the cluster. In this period we can see a steady growth of distribution and production companies, whereas in case of R&D companies the highest growth had taken place between 1998 and 20043. Until 2000 the biggest group had been production companies but after 2000 the R&D group took the lead. The vast majority of R&D group are university start-ups. Figure 3 shows the company entries per year. In 1995 there were 3 new R&D companies: (Medico Nord, Neurodan and Partran). The highest number of entries we can clearly see in 2000: 8 new R&D companies in the region (Check Vision, Immupharm, Medicode, NeuroCon, Noxi Test Biomedical, OT Light, Penell, RTX Healthcare). 4 of these companies do not exist anymore. 2001 was the second dynamic year with 4 R&D, 2 production, and 1 distribution company entering (Thomsen Bioscience, Tiani Nordic, NeuroReTrain, Sandman, Flextronics, Microsound). 2 of these companies are not in the cluster anymore (Sandman, Flextronics). Figure 4 shows the exits in the cluster. Here we can also see that the highest number is R&D companies (10 from 15). The rest are production companies. There were no exits among distribution companies. The biggest number of exits was in 2004 (7: 5 R&D and 2 production companies). We have observed three kinds of exits: fusions through changing ownership, liquidation, and movement to other region. Among fusions we have Cardiotech that has been taken over by Marmaid, Pennel that has been bought by RTX Healthcare, H.Meyland-Smith changed into Meyland-Smith, NeuroCon by Neurodan. Among insolvencies we have following companies: Check Vision (minor medical applications), HC Dental (dental applications), Medico Nord, Noxi Test Biomedical, Orthocom, Otto Light, Paromatic, Sandman (these 4 companies were development projects at the university), Pharmal. For the companies with movement from the region as the reason of exit, Flextronics removed its production facilities from Denmark, and Medicode moved to another region of Denmark.

In 2003 and 2004 cluster initiative employed a start-up consultant.

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DRUID Winter 2007

Netto growth of companies 60 number of companies 50 40 30 20 10 0

Gross trade R&D Production All

20 00

19 92

19 96

19 88

20 04
06

19 98

20 02

19 90

19 82

19 80

19 84

19 86

Company entries per year

9 8 Number of companies 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
80 88 84 86 90 96 98 00 92 02 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 19 19 19 19 19 20 04 82 94 20

Production R&D Gross trade

year

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19 94

year

20 06

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DRUID Winter 2007

Company exits per year

8 7 companies per year 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Gross trade R&D Production All

Employment in the cluster Type of company A. Wholesalers B. R&D C. Production Total Total employment 2005 63 132 2098 2293 Employment per company 2005 7 6,6 149,9 43

Table 1 shows employment in the cluster in 2005 together with the average employment per company in 2005. Similar to the previous comparison, we have divided the companies into three groups. It is not surprising that the highest employment is in the production companies: Oticon (750), Coloplast (350), Novo Nordisk (150), Bang&Olufsen Medicom (150), and production companies with a limited relation to biomedical technology (suppliers): Mekoprint Electronics (350), Jun Air (75), RBM (150). The average employment in production companies is approx. 150 persons. On the other hand the R&D companies in the region in 2005 employed in total 132 persons. The biggest number of employees could be noticed at Gate House (35), and then we have Birch & Krogboe (15), Eurofins Denmark (15), RTX Healthcare. 5 companies had 7 employees (Check Vision, Hugin Expert, Nano Nord, Neurodan, Polyteknik), Any Body Technology and Thomsen Bioscience 3, and finally the rest only 1 employee. These are often the companies-development projects founded by the university researchers. In the distribution companies the employment varies between 3 and 7 with the exception of Epoka Medic Mission that employed 15 companies. As far as the average employment is concerned we have wholesalers at the second place with 7 employees per company followed by R&D companies with 6,6 persons per company.

Stoerring 22.01.2007

19 80 19 82 19 84 19 86 19 88 19 90 19 92 19 94 19 96 19 98 20 00 20 02 20 04 20 06
year

15

DRUID Winter 2007 Geographical concentration The majority of the companies can be treated as geographically concentrated as 65% of companies (39 companies) are located in the direct area of Aalborg (5 km distance by car from the centre4). When we add another 26,6% of companies (16 companies) that are within 60 km drive from Aalborg, then we have over 91 % of cluster companies in this circle. In case of 5 companies it is difficult to discuss geographical concentration, as we have following distances: - 82 km to Randers (Eurofins), - 91 km to Thisted (Coloplast and Oticon), - 137 km to Struer (B&O Medicom), - 151 km to Solkeborg (Microsound). It should be emphasised that these 5 companies are either production facilities or distributors. Vast majority of R&D companies are within the very close Aalborg area.

3.3 Industry specialisation

Figure 5 describes biomedical technology the way the actors behind the cluster initiative define it: that is somewhere in the intersection between Biotechnology (at AAU), Clinical/Hospital research (Aalborg Hospital) and Electronics/IT/Informatics/Telecommunication (AAU, local ICT cluster).

Figure 5: Biomedical Technology in North Denmark. Source: White Book: Biomedical Technology in North Denmark

The question is why is it called Biomedico partly biotechnology that engineers with medical knowledge built implants that are put under the skin, something that is built into the body.

3.4 Linkages between the companies

The table with companies does not show relations among them. Common visit to a big industry fairs in Chicago can show informal linkages. The untraded interdependencies work on the lower level engineers that talk to their colleagues from the school, informal contacts, and managers very often are unaware of this. Some of the arrangements of Networkcentre show these informal contacts. Another question is whether the companies see any relation to each other? If yes, there could be a sign that it can become a cluster (or maybe they are only interested in getting support from policy).

Distances are calculated by ViaMichelin route map.

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DRUID Winter 2007

3.5 Regional embeddedness to the competence base

We observe that most of the youngest companies have their origin in one of the research environment at Aalborg University. Nanotechnology Department Thomsen Bioscience has links to Biomedical research as it works with an ambitious project on intelligent lab-on-chips, providing micro fluidics, miniaturisation, and integration of biological experimentation and industrialisation of the drug discovery process. Nano Nord, founded by a successful entrepreneur is a production and competence centre for the production of nanotechnology coatings and wafers. SMI Naurodan and NeuroCon originate from the best known internationally SMI (Sensory Motor Interaction) Research Centre. Neurodans first product is a foot drop stimulator. Neurocon has developed a proprietary system for managing incontinence in patients offering bladder control to incontinence patients. Another spinoff from SMI is JNI Biomedical offering sensory test equipment for inducing reproducible sensory input and assessing the corresponding outputs. From the same research group stems a more matured example Judex. It was founded in 1992 by one of researchers from the Department of Health Technology and performs research, development, and marketing and sales of solutions within Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics. Judex has one spin-off company, Cephalon that is a distributor of medico technical equipment in Neurology and Medical Imaging. Another examples of wholesalers in this area are: Scan-Co Denmark, the trade company servicing the public sector with mobility aids, health care accessories, and spare parts; Epoka Medic Mission, who is a dealer of high quality used medical equipment such as CT and MRI scanners. Other areas of the university research contribute to the list of companies. Mathematicsresearch-based Hugin Expert originates from an ESPRIT-project using knowledge based system techniques to help diagnose muscle and nerve diseases, develops software for decision support based on Bayesian Networks. AnyBody Technology has roots in mechanics research that developed a unique common computer system for modelling and simulation of human movement. People originally working with image processing have founded Devitech specialising in vision technology providing solution also for medical use. Another company in relation to this research is CheckVision, which developed (insolvent since 2005) and was selling hardware, software, and systems that substitute the human eye. Organisational knowledge and knowledge of IT-implementation is put in use by TIANI Nordic that sales and supports installation of TIANI PACS in the Nordic and Baltic countries. SMI Denmark (Scandinavian Medical Information) is based on the idea of distributing clinical information products in Denamrk. It is the distributor of Micromedex to the Danish Healthcare System and has also developed its own, clinically dedicated content management system. Another source of companies is the hospital environment. Companies that originate from here include Cardiotech (now Mermaide) which has developed a patented method for detecting and diagnosing pulmonary dysfunction and monitoring the effect of treatment of oxygenation problems. There are also companies that are related to the NorCOM cluster in the wireless technology that has close connection with Universitys Department for Telecommunications. A Stoerring 22.01.2007 17

DRUID Winter 2007 significant company within the NorCOM cluster is RTX Telecom, a developer of wireless technology. RTX has taken ownership of Penell, and changed name to RTX Healthcare and its focus is providing wireless connectivity solutions to medical and healthcare device manufacturers. In the eighties Novo Diagnostic Systems producing RCBF-scanners was closed down. This company has span off following companies in the Hadsund area: - Cortex Technology developing products for dermatology based on ultrasound and cryo-technology, - Beaute Pacifique, a spin-off of Cortex develops and sells cosmetics under its own brand, - Hadsund Maskinteknik delivers mechanical solutions and products, primarily to medico-companies. Even the Aalborg areas tradition in heavy industry has given birth to Medicode that was developing and testing new composite materials for use in the human body, based partly on experience gained from optimising concrete based materials. Dental area We find also companies that innovate in the dental area. Paromatic was based on the innovation of the local dentist in the measurement instrumentation for dental purposes. Sandman developed a revolutionary principle for removing cavities in teeth bases on low pressure sandblasting. Production facilities In the seventies there were substantial incentives in Denmark for placing businesses in peripheral areas. This attracted two companies to the region: Coloplast - a production facility for ostomy products and Oticon - a production centre for global hearing companies Oticon and Bernafon. Both are located in Thisted. Acoustics Department Another production centre include Bang & Olufsen Medicom that is a developer and producer of intelligent medical devices.

3.6 Awareness about cluster

In this section we assume that it is clear that the companies organised in Biomedcom have the awareness about the cluster initiative. Finding companies in the related industries that are not on this list may be an indicator that not everybody is aware about the cluster. Awareness about a cluster in the region We were able to establish the awareness about a cluster in the region when we were preparing the list of companies. We started from the list of 41 firms that was included in the first regional publication about a possible cluster, so called White Book on Biomedical Technology in North Denmark, Science Innovation Business, prepared by: Rikke Jensen, Charlotte Villadsen, Thomas Sinkjr, Egon Toft, and Bent Dalum (Jensen et. al. 2003). We have expanded this list by firms included in the promotion catalogue BioMedCommunity Science and Innovation for the Living prepared by the cluster organisation in 20045. If we compare both publications, the catalogue contained 10 additional companies in comparison to
5

We have excluded two companies that were present in the first publication (Hewlett Packard and Noxi Test Institute) as we have not found any information about these firms in the region of North Jutland.

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DRUID Winter 2007 the White Book but on the other hand as many as 20 firms from the first publication were not included in the catalogue (the catalogue had 31 companies). The BiomedCommunity, described as the cluster organisation in (Stoerring and Christensen 2005) has a list of companies on their homepage that has been regularly updated (www.biomedcom.dk). As the list on the homepage has been updated and changed frequently, the catalogue publication allowed us to trace the list of the companies in 2004. In the last stage of preparations of this list we have added the new companies from the homepage as well as the companies that were identified in regional authorities publications, newspapers articles, and interviews with regional stakeholders. This added 10 new companies to the previous publications. Presently (December 2006) there are 29 companies on the www.biomedcom.dk. On the contrary, our list included 45 companies at the same time. The presence or no presence on the company list prepared by the cluster organisation may be an indication of awareness about a cluster in the region. One of the explanations of this distinction may be that the cluster organisation included on the homepage only the companies that identify themselves with the cluster initiative. Limitations of methodology of clusters identification On the other hand the large number of companies in the first publication of White Book that aimed at highlighting the regional potential of cluster development and was partly prepared by consulting companies might be an example of looking for clusters everywhere and creation of artificial clusters by consultants. As we are trying to answer whether we can talk about an emerging cluster in this case6, the discussion about the companies relevance and the common competence base and these companies embededdness in the region should confirm whether the first list was a consultants creativity. On the other hand we can see on the Figure XX that in years 2000, 2001, and 2003 we had the largest amount of entries to the cluster and there might be a danger that it could be attributed to this creativity. In 2003 we also had the biggest amount of overall companies (56). As using the company lists prepared by cluster organisations is a common method of identification of emerging clusters, this limitation should be present in many cases similar to ours.

3.7 How the cluster grows + critical mass

How does a cluster grow: discussion on a critical mass of companies. According to Cooke 2001b: Periphery regions with ambitions to change their profile into the high-tech one face a problem of reaching a critical number of firms that could develop a cluster. It is also not easy to decide how many companies are needed to achieve a critical mass. It may be rather a question of quality of the R&D/innovations within these companies than the quantity for the region to become competitive on the international level. This difficulty may be particularly applicable to the regions with the ambition to foster high-tech clusters in biotechnology. The new Biomedico why is it called Biomedico partly biotechnology that engineers with medical knowledge built implants that are put under the skin, something that is built into the body. There are two such cases Neurodan and Thomsen Bioscience A/S. The emergence of nanotechnology. Here argument of Cooke about critical mass and the quality of innovation in the companies. But it is still not enough. Again the case of Neurodan being acquired by the big international company might be interpreted as a sign that a cluster is growing.

Another question is whether it is possible to identify an emerging cluster at all.

Stoerring 22.01.2007

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DRUID Winter 2007

4 Preliminary conclusions
Our findings show that it is difficult to identify a common competence base for that cluster. We have found companies representing different industries that are included in the cluster by the cluster organisation. However, we know even from famous clusters such as Silicon Valley and Cambridge clusters that these are very often broad high technology clusters and we think that the broad definition of the cluster should not be a hindrance to define Biomedico as a cluster. Furthermore, while looking at the cluster definition (for instance, starting from the Porters one) including not only companies but local organisations we find that the key relationship to the local knowledge base at Aalborg University are companies that can be defined as medical biotechnology with the most successful case: university start-up Neurodan (which has been acquired by a big international company). This is an example of one of the mechanisms how the clusters grow (Maskell, Brenner). The possibility of extending the cluster based on this industry depends on how dependent are local firms on this unique local knowledge asset. Here we approach the problem of critical mass of companies that can create a cluster. According to Cooke it is not the quantity but the quality of R&D innovations within these companies that decide upon the regions competitiveness on the international level (Cooke 2001). In this paper we show that the Biomedico initiative in North Jutland is more than a wishful thinking or policy-driven cluster. Our findings show that it has thicker air than the clusters Lundequist is talking about. Policy may play an important role for cluster development and one has to have a vision that gives a framework for strategy enhancing regional development. As the example of Medicon Valley shows, the branding activities might be one of mechanisms of cluster emergence. This gives legitimacy to the strategy of branding North Jutland as the Biomedico cluster by clusterpreneurs. However, it should be noted that the Biomedico cluster is still in an early phase of cluster development, thus, its analysis is more ambiguous than analysis of mature clusters. Most of the cluster studies discuss mature clusters where it is easy to trace development stages, main mechanisms or even failures. There are very few studies of emerging clusters in the literature but we think that it is important from the policy point of view to investigate the mechanisms that are still in work. The problem of most of the clusters is that they can be identified after they have emerged expost analyses is used and this involves different analyses and different methods that we have discussed before.

5 References
Bo Carlsson, Staffan Jacobsson, Magnus Holmn, Annika Rickne: Innovation systems: analytical and methodological issues, Research Policy 31 (2002) 233245 Carlsson, B. (2005). The Role of Public Policy in Emerging Clusters. The Emergence of Technology Clusters and the Implication for Government Policy. P. Braunerhjelm, (forthcoming). Cooke, 2001: New Economy Innovation Systems: Biotechnology in Europe and the USA, Industry and Innovation, Vol. 8, no. 3, dec. Enright, 2001: Regional clusters: what we know and what we should know. Paper presented at the Kiel Institute International Workshop on Innovation Clusters and Interregional Competition, 12-13 November Stoerring 22.01.2007 20

DRUID Winter 2007

Feldman, M. P., J. Francis, et al. (2005). "Creating a cluster while building a firm: Entrepreneurs and the formation of industrial clusters." Regional Studies 39(1): 129-141. Lundequist and Power 2002: Putting Porter into Practice? Practices of Regional Cluster Building: Evidence from Sweden, European Planning Studies, Vol. 10, No. 6, 2002 Martin and Sunley, 2003: Deconstructing clusters: chaotic concept or policy panacea? Journal of Economic Geography, vol. 3, 5-35 Wolfe and Gertler, 2004: Clusters from the Inside and Out: Local Dynamics and Global Linkages, Urban Studies, Vol. 41, Nos 5/6, 10711093, May 2004

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 1 3 Postal code 9000 City

1 A 2 B

Actera A/S

1999

AnyBody Technology

2001

3 A

ASCON Trading

1980

Pulsating Electro Magnetic Field Treatment (PEMF) method for treatment of different diseases. Manufacturing of PEMF devices are outsourced to subcontractors Unique technology for computer simulation of the interior forces in the human body a unique computer system for simulation of human movement/ software that is used by e.g. Ford, Toyota, Suzuki Producer of hearing aids and parts for hearing aids Mainly distributor

51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods 72.22 Other software consultancy and supply

Aalborg

9220

Aalborg Oest

4 C

Bang&Olufsen Medicom Developer Beaute Pacifique Bionanophotonics A/S

1978

Tester and manufacturer of intelligent drug delivery devices and self-management home care ystems

5 A 6 B

1997 2003

Producer of dermatological products Biosensors and biochips,, Nanoelectronics, Biomedical applications, Microarrays Findings achieved at the Biostructure and Protein Engineering Group at the Institute of Physics and Nanotechnology at AAU. Spinout from AAU Engineering company delivering clean room solutions

51.43 Wholesale of electrical household appliances and radio and television goods 33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances 51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering 74.20 Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy 28.52 General mechanical engineering 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

9200

Aalborg SV

219

150

7600

Struer

7 0

7 1

9560 9220

Hadsund

alborg Oest

7 B

Birch & Krogboe A/S

1991

15

9200

Aalborg SV

and - design and hospital engineering

2002 1999 2005 fusion From 2005 (?) Mermaid Care Mechanical sub-supplies, Specializes in working with the material Titan. Developer of a patented method for detecting and diagnosing pulmonary dysfunction and monitoring the effect of treatment of oxygenation problems, licensed for use in respirators to former Siemens-Elema, now Getinge. Distributor of medical systems. Also offices in Sweden and Finland, main in Aalborg

8 C 9B

BMV Maskineteknik A/S Cardiotech Cardiotech Holdning ApS Egon Toft

3 1

9700 9220

Brnderslev
Aalborg Oest

10 A

Cephalon

1997

51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods

9400

Noerresundby

Stoerring 22.01.2007

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit 2005 insolvency Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 7 Postal code 9560 City

11B 12 C 13 C

Check Vision

2000

Coloplast Group

1978

High-technology computer image analysis hardware, software and systems Developer and manufacturer of innovative health care products Research equipment for Dermatology development and production facilities, via subcontractors Imaging systems solutions serving several different industries including medical applications Vkstfonden, NOVI Innovation & MVTU. The company is established to develop and commercialize products based on a number of patents concerning multimodal diagnosing of patients with functional pains. Located in Forksningenshus. Collaboration with the Center for Visceral Biomechanics and Pain Sales and acquisition of used imaging equipment: CT, MRI, Ultrasound, X-ray, C-Arms, Angio/Cath Lab, Mammography, Nuclear Medicine Consulting company with subsidiaries in Galten, Vejen, Holstebro og Vallensbk. Production facility in Pandrup Oploest 08.2005

72.22. Other software consultancy and supply 25.24 Manufacture of other plastic products 33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances 51.86 Wholesale of other electronic parts and equipment 33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances

Hadsund

346

350

7700

Thisted

Cortex Technology

1985

12

15

9560

Hadsund

14 A 15 C

Devitech ApS

1997

9400

Noerresundby

Ditens A/S

2006

9000

Aalborg

16 A 17 B 18 C

Epoka Medic Mission A/S Eurofins Danmark A/S Flextronics Denmark A/S

2003

51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods 74.30 Technical testing and analysis 32.30 Manufacture of television and radio receivers, sound or video recording or reproducing apparatus and associated goods 72.22 Other software consultancy and supply

15

9490 8900 8464 9490

Pandrup Randers Galten Pandrup

1981 2001 2004 sold after strategic decision

15

19 B

GateHouse

1992

Developer of medical measurement Systems Mainly technical software products within satellite communications and shore-based AIS, consultancy services ranging from full turnkey operation of software development to specified test operations, also defence market.

21

35

9400

Noerresundby

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 14 15 Postal code 9560 City

20 C

Hadsund Maskinteknik

1988

Producer of medical-, surgical- and electrodiagnostic- equipment, mechanical and electromechanical products and subsupplies from early prototypes to finished products in serial productions 2005 insolvency Producer of medical and surgical Equipment Producer and distributor of the Vendlet product, which is an electronic driven tool for the prevention of back injuries when moving bedridden patients 2004 taken over by Meyland Smith Aid equipment for physically disabled people; primarily children

33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances

Hadsund

21 C 22 C

H C Dental

1988

No info in krak about company profile 33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances

14

9000

Aalborg

H. C. Equipment

1985

10

9000 9220

Aalborg Aalborg Oest (cvr I 2006)

23C

H. MeylandSmith

1993

36.63 Other manufacturing n.e.c.

18

9830

Trs

24 B

Hugin Expert

1990

Decision support (Bayesian Network), medical diagnostics, safety assessment. Clinical testing of a new anti-cold Drug, NOVI 49%, Vaekstfonden 11%

72.21 Publishing of software

9000

Aalborg

25 B

Immupharm

2000

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering
33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances

9220

Aalborg Oest

26 B

JNI Biomedical ApS

2003

Consulting company founded by Jesper Nielsen, present C/O of Neurodan, former SMI researcher

9270

Klarup

27 C

Judex

1992

R&D within the fields of Neuromuscular Solutions, Cardiovascular Solutions, Respiratory and Sleep Solutions and, Medical Informatics

16

15

9000

Aalborg

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 80 75 Postal code 9400 City

28 C

Jun-Air

1946

Quiet air compressors for use in laboratories, dental clinics, medical and industrial companies Mekoprint develops and manufactures unique, customer-specific components and total solutions in the area of plastic solutions (membrane switches and keyboards, flexprints, nameplates, graphic overlays) and metal solutions (instrument boxes, cabinets, front panels, precision-milled aluminium parts, chemically milled and punched out components, nameplates and scales). Patented method, ALPE (automated lung parameter estimation) for detecting and diagnosing pulmonary dysfunction and monitoring the effect of treatment of oxygenation problems. 2006 insolvency New structural composite technology for use in the human body, e.g. implants and dental fillings Aid solutions for physically disabled people; wheel chairs and home care equipment Agent for Otto Bock Producer of handicapped chairs

29.12 Manufacture of pumps and compressors

Noerresundby

29 C

Mekoprint Electronics
MEKOPRINT A/S

1987

30.02 Manufacture of computers and other information processing equipment

350

9530

Stvring

30 B

Mermaid Care A/S Before Cardiotech change 2005

2006

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering No info 8 1

9220

Aalborg Oest

31B

-Medicode

2000

9500

Hobro

32B

Medico Nord

1995

2004 insolvency

33 A 34 C 35 A 36 B

Medico Nord A/S Meyland-Smith A/S Microsound A/S

2003 2002 2001

NanoNord

2002

R&D production centre on a commercial basis and NanoNord is the only Danish company which actually shares both staff and laboratory facilities with leading nano-science institutions in Denmark development of
sensors, and especially Cantilevers

51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods 35.43 Manufacture of invalid carriages 51.46 Wholesale of other electronic parts and equipment 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

7 15 7

9280 9830 8600

Storvorde Trs Silkeborg

9220

Aalborg Oest

Stoerring 22.01.2007

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 1 1 Postal code 9220 9220 City

37 B 38B

NemoMed A/S NeuroCon ApS

2005 2000

First patent, spinout from AAU

2006

developed a proprietary system for managing incontinence in patients, SMI patent, Neurodan owns 100%
R&D within the field of motor nerve stimulation and sensory nerve recording. Neurodans mission is to improve health for patients with neurological disabilities by developing and commercialising innovative sensory/motor-neuro stimulation medical devices. An implanted foot drop correction system The mission is to develop and commercialize rehabilitation technology for the purpose of standing-balance training derived from its leading research position within restoration of sensory-motor functions by means of neurological rehabilitation. One of Neurodans companies Novo Nordisks main therapy areas are diabetes and metabolism, haemostasis and thrombosis. The goal for Novo Nordisk research activities is to generate insight into disease pathophysiology, and to optimize the therapeutic regimens applied to marketed drugs. Production facility

85.14 Other human health activities 73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

Aalborg Oest Aalborg Oest

39 B

Neurodan

1995

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

9200

Aalborg

40 B

NeuroReTrain

2001

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

9220

Aalborg Oest

41 C

Novo Nordisk

1990

24.42 Manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations

130

150

9800

Hjoerring

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit 2004 insolvency Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 5 Postal code 9000 City

42B

Noxi Test Biomedical

2000

Bridges experimental/clinical research and biomedical engineering, offering optimal solutions based on current basic research and the most advanced technologies available The aim is to implement biomedical engineering support together with complete turnkey project management within the working areas of the Noxi Test Institute (pain, dermatology and medical laser research). Top distributor of a broad range of prescription pharmaceuticals and non-prescription pharmaceuticals. Nycomed Danmark A/S Hobro producer of tablet based drugs, minerals and vitamins.

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

43 C

Nycomed Danmark

1994

24.42 Manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations

49

35

9500

Hobro

44B 45B

Orthocam

1999

2003 insolvency 2004 insolvency

Supplier of orthopedic equipment. Programe under NOVI Innovation. Equipment for remote control of light, e.g. for medical purposes. Programe under NOVI Innovation.
73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

9220

Aalborg Oest

OT Light

2000

9220

Aalborg Oest

46 C

Oticon

1976

World wide producer of hearing aid products Thisted is a production centre for the global hearing aid companies 2004 insolvency Developer of measurement instrumentation for dental purposes. Programe under NOVI Innovation.

33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

600

750

7700

Thisted

47B

Paromatic

2002

9220

Aalborg Oest

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 1 Postal code 8600 City

48 B

Partran

1995

Partran has successfully implemented a development project demonstrating the technical aspects relating to the use of a new technology for the manipulation of voice signals. Partran has developed a demonstrator clearly able to demonstrate the technological potential of the pending patent within the field of hearing aids in particular. Development project at acoustics AAU licensed to MICROSOUND A/S (ownership) 2004 taken over by RTX Healthcare 2006 Outsourcing partner in customized biomedical electronics

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering

Silkeborg

49B

Penell

2000

72.22 Other software consultancy and supply

35

9000

Aalborg

50C

Pharmal (under konkurs cvr I 2006) Polyteknik

1995

Pharmaceutical products

24.42 Manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations 74.20 Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy 36.11 Manufacture of chairs and seats 72.22 Other software consultancy and supply 33.10 Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances 51.46 Wholesale of pharmaceutical goods

9500

Hobro

51 B

1994

Vacuum based technologies for manufacturing of Thinfilms and structures in the nano- and micro-range (R&D clients come also from bio-tech) Developer, producer, and distributor of office chairs and conference-/canteen furniture Project with AnyBody group from university Developing world-class wireless connectivity products and solutions for medical and healthcare devices Developer of a revolutionary principle for removing cavities in teeth based on low pressure sandblasting (used by Tandlgeskolen i Aarhus) Programe under NOVI Innovation. Distributor of personal and professional aids and commodities for rehab- and hospital use SMI (Scandinavian Medical Information) Developer of a system distributing clinical information products in Denmark (Micromedex database)

9750

stervr

52 C 53 B 54C

RBM A/S

1991

150

9690

Fjerritslev

RTX Healthcare A/S Sandman

2000 2001 2005 insolvency

15 2 1

9400 9220

Nrresundby Aalborg Oest

55 A

Scan-Co

1989

9400

Noerresundby

56 B

SMI Danmark ApS

1992

72.22 Other software consultancy and supply

9310

Vodskov

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DRUID Winter 2007

Nr Company Founded Year and type of exit Company profile NACE code Number of employees 2003 2005 1 3 Postal code 9400 City

57 B

Thomsen Bioscience

2001

Developing a fully automated biochip for detection and identification of biological warfare agents and other airborne pathogens for naturally occurring diseases Integrated health care solutions development and consultancy services TIANI PACS Software for digital roentgen Development of tongue steered mouse, finding from SMI, NOVI start-up, spin-out from AAU

58 B

Tiani Nordic

2001

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering 72.22 Other software consultancy and supply

Noerresundby

9220

Aalborg Oest

59 B

TKS A/S

2006

60 C

TransElectro

1986

Supplier of transformers for installation in dataprocessing and hi-fi equipment, medical apparatus, testing devices and satellite communication.

73.10 Research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering 31.10 Manufacture of electric motors, generators and transformers

9220

Aalborg Oest

41

15

9560

Hadsund

Legend for different use of colours:

The list is based on three lists: 1 - list included in [Jensen et. al. 2003]: Rikke Jensen, Charlotte Villadsen, Thomas Sinkjr, Egon Toft og Bent Dalum, Biomedical Technology in North Denmark, Science Innovation Business, 2003. 2 Compentence Cataogue prepared by BioMedCommunity in 2004 3 present list of companies on www.biomedcom.dk Black firms that are on 1) 2) and 3) list = 15 Red firms that were only on 1) = 20 Blue firms that were on 1) and 2) = 5 Green firms that were only on 2) = 2 (Eurofins consultancy and Flextronics) Gray firms that are on 2) and 3) = 8 Pink firms that are only on 3) = 10 Type of companies: A Wholesale B R&D C Production

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DRUID Winter 2007

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