During a cold, damp, grey March visit to the biotech nexus of Copenhagen, Malmo and Lund — also known as Medicon Valley — I was not surprised when my hosts told me that the weather, especially the long winters with their lack of both heat and light, gave pause to potential recruits from warmer climes. But despite these chilly conditions, the welcome that I was accorded could not have been warmer.

When in Scandinavia, I survived two days of interviews undertaken while I was suffering with flu. Indeed, normally, I would have cancelled my appointments — but they had been arranged months in advance, and I had just travelled thousands of miles to reach them. Fortunately, pharmaceutical executives, investment bankers, university researchers and biotech senior executives all endured patiently my fevered, disjointed questions — punctuated all-too-frequently by sneezes, coughs and me blowing my nose. Nonplussed, they proffered great quantities of tea, over-the-counter remedies and frank answers.

During the course of my queries, I learned that people on both sides of the Øresund Sound have worked to make Medicon Valley a better environment for scientists. New venture capital funds all but guarantee that any marketable biology born in the area has a chance to succeed. Biotech parks located close to universities in both cities encourage new relationships between academia and industry. And some business leaders say they have already made moves to attract the scientists from outside the area that the region will need if it is to grow.

Those efforts show collectively that even though you can't improve the weather, you can change the climate.