Life science-branschen

It is a research and development-intensive industry dominated by healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, but it is increasingly service-based. The life sciences sector today consists of subsectors such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology and contract research.

Digital solutions and sustainability are integral to the sector's development. AI is an important decision-making tool for finding substances with an effect on different types of pathogens. For example, the technology makes it possible to predict the efficacy and possible side effects of drug candidates. Vaccine production has been revolutionized and AI was one of the reasons why Moderna was able to develop its COVID-19 vaccine so quickly.

Growing industry

The number of people employed in the sector has been steadily increasing. Between 2015 and 2020, 9 610 jobs were added. Most are still employed by large companies with more than 250 employees, but the number has decreased and more and more are employed by small companies with between 10-49 employees.

Net turnover has increased by more than SEK 158 billion since 2015 and reached SEK 365 billion in 2020. Net sales per employee have also increased significantly during the period.

In Medicon Valley, 12,000 new jobs have been created in the last five years. An increase of 22%. Today, a total of 65,500 people work at the 1,150 companies in the Danish-Swedish life science cluster. A recent analysis indicates that 64% of Swedish life science companies plan to increase the number of employees.