For many businesses the situation caused by covid-19 is difficult to handle. Lundasupport has been founded on the initiative of the business department at Lund municipality, which is a collaboration where local businesses are given the opportunity to get in touch with business advisors free of charge. For Lundasupport, the organizations Medicon Village, Ideon Science Park, Ideon Innovation, SmiLe Incubator and Lund University collaborate with LU Innovation & Venture Lab, Win, xPlot, Future by Lund, Cleantech Scandinavia, Handelsföreningen Lund, Lunds Nyföretagarcentrum (LNC) and Innovation Skåne.
Lundasupport is an initiative that offers business support in the form of free guidance to companies and organizations that need help due to the situation caused by covid-19. Lund’s champions of innovation and entrepreneurship, together with Lund municipality, have joined forces to support Lund’s business enterprises and organizations. Lundasupport is intended as a sounding board where businesses can get advice and coaching and also be guided towards authorities, municipalities, industry associations and other partners.
Lund’s Nyföretagarcentrum (New Entrepreneur’s Business Center) is one of the partners that businesses can meet through Lundasupport.
– By bringing together so many specialties and competences, we will be able to help many entrepreneurs feel more secure – and to be better prepared for a new market situation, says Christer Wallin, CEO of LNC, Lund’s New Entrepreneur’s Business Center. We can be a facilitator that comes up with new suggestions. Many entrepreneurs are the only ones in their businesses and may need someone to talk with. We at Lund’s New Entrepreneur’s Business Center understand the foundations of entrepreneurship and are familiar with taxes, employer fees and accounting. We have the expertise to look over their financial security systems but at the same time can dare to say when it is most beneficial to close down the business.
The businesses that call or e-mail get in contact with knowledgeable advisors. One of these is Lars Mattiasson from Future by Lund.
– It is very much about offering a point of contact with people that can provide support, says Lars Mattiasson. Through Lundasupport you can get answers to everything, ranging from questions about how to change your business operation to how to find new investors and what to think about if you must close down the business.
When Lund municipality took the initiative with Lundasupport, the response from other stakeholders working on innovation and entrepreneurship was swift.
– The stakeholders in our network immediately returned with a positive response and I am pleased with the state of play we have in Lund, says Per Persson of Lund municipality. The aspiration is for business advisors from the New Entrepreneur’s Business Center and other players within innovation to relax their boundaries and allow established companies to seek advice from them. Through Lundasupport we can allocate questions to the various business advisors and coordinate solutions for companies that face similar challenges.
In the week following Easter a homepage for Lundasupport was set up, which can be accessed via Future by Lund and also Lund municipality’s website under Näringsliv and Företag. You can also contact Lundasupport via phone on 046-359 9020 between 09.00 and 16.00 on weekdays, or by e-mail to lundasupport@futurebylund.se. The advice is free, and the business advisors work under confidentiality. The support provided can distribute questions to the Innovation network and other actors.
Partners of Lundasupport
“Ideon Innovation is proud to be one of several partners that support Lundasupport giving advice through our expertise in start-ups. Since 2004 almost 300 companies have been developed in the Ideon Innovation incubator program and successful companies such as Storytel, Bonesupport and Parkster started their journey in our environment.” Ola Andersson, CEO of Ideon Innovation.
“The important thing is that businesses in Lund take care of this together, as we have all the skills and competences that can be shared between us. Our area of specialty is Life Science – and we have, for example, companies at Medicon Village that are working towards a coronavirus vaccine. Our premises physically contain several of the innovation players such as SmiLe incubator, LU Innovation and Future by Lund.” Kerstin Jakobsson, CEO of Medicon Village Innovation.
“Lund’s New Entrepreneur’s Business Center specializes in helping new entrepreneurs to build sustainable and resilient businesses, which we have done since 1992. The issues facing basically all companies in crisis situations are fundamentally the same that new entrepreneurs face, so we can with high confidence use the ‘tools’ of the New Entrepreneur’s Business Center to help and offer relief in times of crisis”. Christer Wallin, CEO of Lund’s New Entrepreneur’s Business Center.
“Lund University, through our innovation platform, wants to support all the researchers and students who have started their own businesses and projects based on research and knowledge at the university, and also the ideas that can make relevant contributions to this crisis that we all are going through”. Linus Wiebe, Innovation Director at LU Innovation and Moa Persdotter, Managing Director of VentureLab.
“As always in crisis situations, we must dare to think in new ways, to see possibilities and dare to help each other! The Ideon family supports Lundasupport with business development and matchmaking between businesses and resources in our large contact network!” Mia Rolf, CEO of Ideon Science Park.
Future by Lund
Picture: Per Persson, Lund Municipality, Jon Andersson, Lund Municipality, Ola Andersson, Ideon Innovation, Katarina Scott, Future by Lund, Moa Persdotter, Venture lab, Ebba Fåhraeus, SmiLe Incubator, Christer Wallin, Lund’s New Entrepreneur’s Business Center, Kerstin Jakobsson Medicon Village Innovation
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