Below you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked question about Medicon Valley, Medicon Valley Alliance, our initiatives and activities, membership, and funding.
You are of course always welcome to contact us.
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About MVA
Q: What is Medicon Valley?
Medicon Valley is a bi-national life science cluster that spans the island of Zealand in Eastern Denmark and the Skåne region of Southern Sweden. It is one of Europe’s strongest life science clusters with many innovative life science companies, academic excellence and a tradition for public private partnerships located within a small geographical area. The cluster is connected by the Øresund Bridge opened in year 2000, which makes commuting between Denmark and Sweden an easy everyday task. The geography of Medicon Valley is almost overlapping with geography sometimes referred to as Greater Copenhagen.
Q: What is Medicon Valley Alliance?
Medicon Valley Alliance (MVA) is the official cross-border life science cluster organization for Medicon Valley; the dynamic bi-national region embracing Eastern Denmark and Southern Sweden.
Home to over 330+ members from all over the world, including universities, hospitals, biotech and pharma companies, CROs, CDMOs, science parks and public sector organizations, MVA serves as the region’s facilitator, catalyst and advocate. MVA drives collaboration, knowledge-sharing and business development through strategic projects, flagship events, thematic networks and advocacy. As the only cross-border cluster organization that Denmark or Sweden have, MVA uniquely facilitates synergies that amplify the region’s global competitiveness and, as such, plays a central role in driving knowledge sharing, collaboration and innovation.
By continuously refining our initiatives and adapting to industry needs, we ensure that Medicon Valley remains a magnet for life science advancements, economic growth and improved healthcare outcomes, delivering tangible value to our members and strengthening the region’s attractiveness for investors and talent.
Q: When was MVA founded?
Medicon Valley Academy (MVA) commenced in 1997 as an EU Intereg II project and was initiated by the universities in Lund and Copenhagen, strongly supported by the major pharmaceutical companies in the region. An important factor was the bridge between Denmark and Sweden that was expected to highly stimulate the number of interactions between research and business communities in the two countries. In 2007, Medicon Valley Academy changed its name to Medicon Valley Alliance to signal the broad foundation in the region – not only in academia but also in the business and private domain of the region.
Q: Who decides what MVA should engage in?
MVA is a democratic organization. At the Ordinary General Assembly members can express their views and give suggestions for future activities. In the course of the year, the Board of Directors closely follows the various projects and activities of MVA, and meetings are held with the main stakeholders throughout the year in order to keep the organization focused on issues that ensure a healthy development in the region.
Q: What is the main function of MVA?
MVA initiates, communicates, and encourages cooperation between companies, organizations, and public authorities to develop activities within health and life science in the Øresund region (Medicon Valley). MVA host and organize +30 different events, meetings and small conferences each year, which essentially serve as a meeting and market place for Nordic and European life science. MVA runs several networks, which MVA member companies can join free of charge as part of their membership. MVA also offers to organize meetings in partnership with individual companies, which would like to test the waters, raise awareness of their technology, expertise and servies and reach out to potential customers and partners in the region.
MVA also takes part in the international marketing of Medicon Valley and participates in int. partnering conferences such as Bio Europe, Nordic Life Science Days, Swiss Biotech Days, Anglo-Nordic Life Science Conference etc. to actively promote the region as an attractive destination for foreign life science companies. MVA member companies furthermore enjoys substantial discounts on a number of these conferences.
Q: Is MVA a unique organization or are there others in the Medicon Valley region performing similar tasks?
MVA is unique in the sense of being a cross-border association for a regional life science cluster.
On the Swedish and Danish sides of Medicon Valley there are science parks that play an important role in the development of life science business, and there are trade organizations for pharma, medtech and other industries, but MVA is the only organization representing the entire health and life science sector in the cross-border region.
Q: How is MVA organized?
The day-to-day business of MVA is run by a secretariat, based in Ørestad City (Copenhagen). The current CEO is Anette Steenberg. Director of Member Engagement and Communication is David Munis Zepernick.
The MVA Board of Directors consist of representatives from the different categories of member organizations reflecting the Academia-Industry-Hospital triple helix nature of the organization.
The current chairman of the board is Niels Abel Bonde, Novo Nordisk. Vice chair is Ulf G. Andersson, senior advisor, Medeon Science Park.
Any group member shall have the right but not a duty to appoint a member of the Board of Directors; the majority of board members should, however, represent public authorities at all times.
Q: Who has influence on the Board and the activities of MVA?
All members are welcome to send in suggestions to the Board of Directors. Depending on the nature of the issue, the suggestions can be discussed at the meetings of the Board of Directors, which are held four times a year or they can be dealt with at the Ordinary General Meeting.
About Projects and Initiatives
Q: How is the Danish – Swedish focus of MVA balanced?
One of the strengths of MVA is its cross-border organizational structure. This enables knowledge-sharing and transfer of technology between universities, hospitals and industry between the Danish and Swedish sides of Medicon Valley. The fact that the Danish side of Medicon Valley includes the Capital Region of Copenhagen and thereby boasts higher population density means that the majority of members are on the Danish side. However, the Malmö-Lund area on the Swedish side is becoming an increasingly more important hub for higher education institutions, hospitals as well as industry.
Q: Who has influence on the Board and the activities of MVA?
All members are welcome to send suggestions to the Board of Directors. Depending on the nature of the issue, the suggestions can be discussed at the meetings of the Board of Directors, which are held four times a year or they can be dealt with at the Ordinary General Meeting.
About Membership
Q: What are the benefits of being a member of MVA?
MVA membership includes the following
- The number of employees of an MVA member company included in the membership have free access to all MVA organized events and MVA networks, including MVA’s New Year’s reception and the MVA Annual Summit
- MVA members can get 1 directors/C-level employees included in the MVA Executive Club network and guest list, which give access to the free MVA Executive Club dinner meetings
- MVA member companies can contribute to the agenda-setting of MVA network meetings and MVA Annual Meeting
- MVA member companies and their employees can benefit from the MVA member benefit program
- MVA member companies and their employees can benefit from the discounts on registration on the international conferences published in MVA’s event calendar including but limited to Bio Europe, Nordic Life Science Days, Anglo-Nordic Life Science Conference, Swiss Biotech Days, BioFIT and MedFIT
- MVA member companies can co-organize MVA Good Morning Meetings, ½ Day Meetings/Boost Seminars and Full Day Conferences (MVA’s commercial meetings portfolio) at the reduced MVA member rate
- MVA member companies can get a substantial number of its own events and webinars published in MVA’s event calendar and newsletter free of charged
- MVA member companies can advertise open positions free of charge in MVA’s newsletter
- MVA member companies can get free access to MVA analysis work such as MVA’s State of Medicon Valley analysis and others
Q: How do we become a member?
You can apply for membership by filling in the form on this page. If you are curios to learn more about the benefits of membership, we strongly encourage you to reach out to Director of Member Engagement and Communication, David Munis Zepernick (dz@mva.org) and schedule an (online) meeting for a mutual introduction and exploration of the business case in membership.
Q: What does it cost to be a member?
The membership subscription includes a basis fee and an additional fee depending on the number of employees. The 2025 fee structure is linear and can be found here.
Effective 1st of January 2026 the new member fee structure is adjusted slightly. The minimum price of membership from 1st of January will be 15.900 DKK/annually (2130 €), which includes a company and maximum 5 employees.
You can read more in the membership section.
Q: As a member, do I have influence on MVA-decisions and future initiatives?
Yes, MVA has a democratic structure with an Ordinary General Meeting where all members are encouraged to make proposals. Throughout the year, suggestions and initiatives from members are also warmly welcomed.
About MVA’s FINANCES
Q: How is MVA funded?
MVA is mainly funded by our members who pay an annual fee in a linear structure (see under Membership section). Furthermore, MVA seeks funding for particular projects and initiatives from the EU Interreg funds and from corporate sponsors. The finances of MVA are public, and the annual reports are available on the MVA website.