Biotechnology Statistics - Sweden

1. SWEDEN

Collection/compilation agency: Statistics Sweden (SCB)

Collection/compilation type: R&D survey.

Variables:

• R&D personnel -- FTE (Business Enterprise)
• R&D expenditure -- (Government and Higher Education)
  

Scope: Business enterprise sector, government sector, higher education sector.

Frequency: Biennial.

Periodicity: Annual.

Classification used: N/A

Definition used: No explicit definition is given in the national R&D survey; however, the OECD definition will be incorporated in future surveys.

Output:

Research and Experimental development in the Business Enterprise Sector 2001 (in Swedish)
Research and Experimental Development in the Higher Education Sector 2001 (in Swedish)
Research and Experimental Development in the General Government Sector 2001 (in Swedish).

Contact comments: Data are available for 1997, 1999 and 2001.

Future plans (plans for new collections, strategies, experiences etc.): N/A

Contact details: www.scb.se
 
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2. SWEDEN

Collection/compilation agency: VINNOVA (Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems)

Collection/compilation type: Analysis of innovation system

Variables:

For firms:

• Business field
• Number of employees
• Turnover
• Equity-to-assets ratio
• Net profits/losses
• Year.
  

For publications and patents:

• Organization
• Scientific or technical field
• Number
• Year.
  

Scope: Firms, universities and university hospitals, research institutes.

In earlier studies, the focus of the analysis of industry has been on Dedicated Biotech Firms. In the studies currently underway also large pharmaceutical companies and other large bio-related firms are included.

Frequency: Reports published in 2001 and 2003.

Periodicity: No fixed schedule.

Classification used:

In the report from 2003 the following classifications were used.

Lines of business for industry:

• Pharmaceuticals & medicine (drug development, diagnostics etc)
• Agrobiotechnology (genetically modified plants, biological plant protection)
• Environmental biotechnology (soil, waste, and water treatment)
• Biotechnology tools & supplies (processes, equipment and instruments for biotechnological use)
• Functional food and feed (mainly probiotics)
• Bioproduction (biomolecular or micro-organism production).
  

For scientific publications:

• Biochemistry & Molecular biology
• Biophysics
• Biotechnology & Applied microbiology
• Cell biology
• Medicinal chemistry
• Genetics & Heredity
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Neurosciences
• Virology
• Biomedical engineering (different from the other fields this is not core biotechnology).
  

For patents (much broader than biotechnology):

• Medical electronics
• Medical equipment
• Biotechnology
• Pharmaceuticals.
  

In work started in 2004 (see below), mapping of industry will also include medical equipment and fields of scientific publications and will look more broadly at medical sciences as well as some other bio-related fields not included in core biotechnology.

Definition used:

For lines of business: See Classification above, this is unavoidably a somewhat subjective classification. The reports provide a list of all the companies and their lines of business classification.

For fields of science: Selected ISI Journal categories (See Classification).

For patent fields: Selected IPC classes:

Output:

Anna Sandström, IVA and Lennart Norgren, VINNOVA, Swedish Biotechnology - Scientific Publications, Patenting and Industrial Development, VINNOVA Analysis VA 2003:2, Stockholm April 2003
http://www.vinnova.se/main.aspx?ID=7E711701-82DA-431B-BB64-3DF4942A95F8

A. Sandström et al, The Swedish biotechnology innovation system, VINNOVA, VF 2001:2, Stockholm 2001
http://www.vinnova.se/main.aspx?ID=06FAD169-76AE-45DB-A0D4-115B4D189F11

Contact comments:

The biotechnology work previously carried out by NUTEK is now done by the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA). VINNOVA was established in 2001 by combining the Technology Division of NUTEK, the Swedish Transport & Communications Research Board (KFB) and part of the Swedish Council for Work Life Research (RALF).

VINNOVA aims at providing policy-relevant information and analysis of the Swedish Biotechnology Innovation System in its international context. For this purpose any relevant information source will be utilized.

For analysis of biotechnology and related industries, the identification and classification of relevant firms is seen as a major bottleneck, and VINNOVA has devoted special attention to this issue. Recently cooperation with regional organizations has become important in this context. Additional data for the identified firms have mainly been derived from administrative records, e.g. the annual records that companies are obliged to submit to the Swedish Patent and Registration Office. VINNOVA did not administer a special biotechnology firm survey.

Future plans (plans for new collections, strategies, experiences, etc.):

1. Firms in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technology:

In 2004, VINNOVA in collaboration with regional organizations is undertaking a mapping of Swedish firms working in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technology. Each regional organization is identifying relevant firms in their region and gathering data on the number of employees in 2003. With the help of consultants, firms are categorized according to business field and certain other parameters. For biotechnology firms, employment in 1997 and 2003 will be compared. The project is expected to be completed during 2004. Comparison with other countries is actively sought. With Statistics Sweden, VINNOVA will separately explore the possibility of using existing databases to further characterize Swedish biotechnology and related firms, e g. in terms of the educational level of employees, mobility of personnel, and exports.

2. International comparisons of scientific publications in Bioregions:

In cooperation with the Swedish Research Council, VINNOVA has started an analysis of scientific publications in fields related to life sciences and biotechnology aiming at comparing Bioregions in Sweden with their counterparts in other countries. Data from ISI's Science Citation Index for the period 1985-2003 will be used. In the first stage, only the number of publications will be studied. The distribution of publications between fields (as defined by groups of journals) and individual research organizations will be analysed as well as changes in both respects over time. Research organizations will be grouped according to the regions in which they are located. Around 400 publications with high Impact factors in their respective fields will be selected from ISI's database. Swedish Bioregions will be compared with 5-10 leading Bioregions in other countries.

Other plans:

Additional quantitative studies of the Swedish Biotechnology Innovation System are likely to be initiated by VINNOVA during 2004 or 2005. The greatest need appears to be for placing the Swedish situation in its international context. Comparisons of Bioregions may here be the most fruitful approach as such comparisons can be meaningful even between regions in countries of very different size. Such comparisons of Bioregions would ideally combine hard quantitative data with more qualitative observations.

There is a lack of reliable international comparisons of government and other funding of research in biotechnology and related disciplines. VINNOVA will actively look for partners in other countries interested in working together to develop such comparative analysis.

Contact details: http://www.vinnova.se

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3.  SWEDEN

Collection/compilation agency: NUTEK (Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development)

Collection/compilation type: Mainly administrative records.

Variables:

• Swedish patenting in the US patent system (1986-97 could be extended to 1999)
• Data on Swedish scientific publications (SCI) (1986-98 could be extended to 1999)
• Lists of Swedish companies with biotechnology activities categorised according to their business and some data on their number of employees and turnover (1996-99 or 1996-98)
• Public/semi public financing of biotechnology research (1997)
• Public seed financing (1997-99)
• Swedish venture capital companies investments in biotechnology industry (1999)
• The results of a questionnaire sent to the identified companies. The questionnaire mostly concerns collaboration with universities and other companies and driving forces and obstacles for innovations and growth in Sweden.
  

Scope: Firms, industrial research institutes, public research organisations and higher education.

Frequency: The project started January 1999 and will end January 2001 unless new funding is found. The time periods covered are listed under Variables and Output.

Periodicity: See above.

Classification used:

Patents: A broad selection of patents using the classification system of the US Patent and Trademark Office was made according to the table below (Table 1). This selection was subsequently refined by using a new classification system (Table 2) thus omitting many patents identified in the initial selection.

Table 1. US Patent Class

Table 2. Classification System for Biotechnology and Biotechnology-related Patents

Scientific publications: The journal categories developed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI, Philadelphia, United States) were used. Included are the categories in Table 3 (cf. the first report under output for more information).

Table 3

Industry: Companies having activities according to our chosen definition were categorised into the following categories: Pharmaceuticals and medicine (drug development, diagnostics, etc); Agrobiotechnology (GMO, biological plant protection, etc); Environmental biotechnology (bioremediation, waste treatment); Biotechnology supplies (instruments and equipment for bioseparation and analyses); Functional food (mainly probiotics); Bioproduction (biomolecular or microorganism production).

Definition used: An analysis of the Swedish Biotechnology Innovation System, is being undertaken, i.e. The actors that develop, produce, analyse or use biological systems on a micro-, cellular or molecular level and the public and private institutions that affect their behaviour.

The focus is on modern biotechnology and innovative use of classical biotechnology.

Output: In English:

NUTEK, A study of the Swedish biotechnology innovation system using bibliometry, January 2000.

Contact comments: The biotechnology work previously carried out by NUTEK is now done by the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA).

Contact details: http://www.nutek.se/

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4. SWEDEN, NORWAY, DENMARK

Collection/compilation agency: Business Region Göteborg, Karolinska Institutet, MedCoast Scandinavia, Medicon Valley Academy, ScanBalt, Stockholm BioRegion, SwedenBIO and Uppsala BIO.

Collection/compilation type: Database with statistics collected directly from (or directly updated by) companies.

Variables:

• Contact details
• Year of establishment
• Keywords
• Description.
  

Scope: Scandinavian Life Science Industry (currently: Sweden, Norway & Denmark).

Frequency: Continuous.

Periodicity: Annual.

Classification used: R&D, marketing/selling, financing, service, production.

Definition used: N/A

Output: http://www.scandinavianlifescience.org

Contact comments: To further strengthen Scandinavia as a world-leading region in Life Science/biomedicine the leading regional actors in Scandinavia are now joining forces. As a first step we are establishing the Scandinavian Life Science Database - a comprehensive database of Scandinavian companies active in the Life Science area. This joint database will be a powerful tool and replace earlier regional databases.

For more information and contacts please consult the Web site.

Contact details: http://www.scandinavianlifescience.org