In December 2006, VINNOVA was commissioned by the Swedish Government to carry out an international study to shed light on the competitiveness of the Swedish sectorial innovation systems of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical technology in international comparison.

The study includes analyses in three main focus areas in an innovation system perspective:

- The key players in the Swedish innovation system, who they are and their position in an international comparison

- Trends, initiatives and commitments in other countries/regions

- Comparative case studies to investigate the competitiveness of the Swedish innovation system

The main question being “What structure, growth and development capacity does the Swedish pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical technology industry have compared to other countries/regions excelling in this field?” The project is also co-financed by the Swedish Association of Scientists, Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers, The Swedish Pharmaceutical Association and The Swedish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry.

The present report is one of the studies carried out as part of the project. The aim is to analyse the structure, dynamics and performance of the life science industry. It is also intended that this study will be followed by a few analyses with the same methodology applied to other countries or regions as part of the benchmarking exercise. The present report does not analyse the implications of the results identified. Such discussion is intended to be carried out in forthcoming studies of the benchmarking project.