Our History
1980’s
The development of Ideon came as a result of the 1970s restructuring in the Skåne business community. Ideon was founded by a collaboration between Lund University, the then Malmöhus county, Lund municipality and the business community.
County Governor Nils Hörjel is one of Ideon’s central founders. He secured an investment of 110 million SEK from IKEA. Ikano’s CEO Ingemar Gustafsson was crucial in the implementation and Ikano became the dominant property owner of Ideon in the beginning.
Other important co-creators of Ideon are County Direct Lennart Linder-Aronsson and Sven-Thore Holm, the first CEO for Ideon Science Park.
Some of the first companies in the park were Ericsson, ABB and Axis Communications
In 1988, Ideon had 100 companies in the park.
1990’s
In 1990, there are over 100 companies in the park and around 1000 people working here. Technologies like biotech and data dominate among the new companies.
In 1993, there was a report from the School of Economics at Växjö University that showed that Ideon Science Park had generated over 2000 new jobs. At this time, Ericsson has 250 employees and uses the entire Alfa-building.
Prominent companies in the 90’s were Probi, Qliktech, Ericsson (Bluetooth), Framfab (internet services) and Cellavision.
2000’s
Gertrud Bolin has been CEO of Ideon from 1999 to 2003 and Hans Möller becomes new CEO in 2003.
On September 30th, 2004, the incubator Ideon Innovation is officially opened! The first registered company in the incubator was Mip Technologies.
In 2006, the Ideon foundation was founded, on initiative from Sven-Thore Holm, Hans Möller and Lennart Prytz. Among the 500 investors, you could find Ingvar Kamprad and Erik Penser.
In 2008, Ideon celebrates 25 years of innovations and invite crown princess Victoria, who visits Bonesupport as one of the Ideon companies.
In 2008, there are over 250 companies in the park with over 3000 employees in total.
2010’s
In March 2011, Ideon Agora, the innovation house, is inaugurated. Here, all the innovation support for startups and scaleups are all togehter in one building.
2012, Ideon Open is started, an accelerator for large companies looking to discover new innovations or to get help in solving challenges in a new, entepreneurial way.
In 2013, Ideon Science Park celebrates 30 years and since the start, 10.000 jobs have been created at Ideon. Technology from Ideon is used by million of people every day.
In 2013, Ideon celebrates its 30th anniversary and since its inception, 10,000 jobs have been created at Ideon. Technology from Ideon is used by millions of people every day. Ideon technology also saves lives. A news report from Australia in September 2013 tells the story of mother-of-two Vanessa Tanasio, who was clinically dead for 42 minutes but was saved from death by the LUCAS 2 CPR machine from Physio Control (formerly Jolife). Ideon concists of 350 companies with around 2.700 employees.
The same year, 2013, the new building Ideon Gateway is officially opened. At this time, there are four incubators working in the park; Ideon Innovation, The Creative Plot, LIFT and VentureLab.
Move to 2016 and we’ll see another expansion of the park, when Castellum and Vasakronan joins Wihlborgs as owners of the park, which now concist of 400 companies with around 9.000 co-workers. Mia Rolf becomes the new CEO of Ideon the same year.
In 2018, Ideon celebrated 35 years of innovations! The same year, it was announced that Ideon is an official partner of UNOPS.
Lund Innovation District is taking shape, with Ideon Science Park as a central player alongside Lund University, Medicon Village, ESS, Max IV, Science Village, and Skåne University Hospital in Lund. All the nodes are connected by Lund’s new tram line, inaugurated in December 2020.
In August 2021, it is confirmed that Sweden’s fourth ESA BIC (European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre) will be located at Ideon Science Park.
The three sister organizations—Ideon Innovation, Ideon AB, and Ideon Open—merge in 2022 as part of a strategy to enhance and strengthen the role as an international science park focused on tech and deep tech. Anders G Nilsson becomes CEO of the new company, Ideon Science Park AB.
Ideon is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023 with a yearlong, fun-filled program. In May of the same year, Axis Communications acquire strategically important propertities within the science park, since they view Lund and the Ideon area as a crucial base for their continued growth.
In 2024, Ideon’s incubator program turns 20. Ideon Innovation was launched when the national incubator program was founded in 2004, and since then, more than 400 startups have developed here; Storytel, Parkster, Acconeer, and Bonesupport, to name a few.
The park has grown further, and the companies within the Ideon community now have a total of approximately 11,500 employees.
