There isn’t enough high-quality and deep multimodal data, on enough people, in benchmarkable structures that participants and practitioners trust, to build the large general healthcare models required. And that’s where Iceland comes in.

Geopolitics is no longer background noise, but an obvious risk factor shaping strategy and timelines. In this new reality, investors and clusters can help entrepreneurs build resilience. Not just by supplying capital, but by strengthening decision-making under uncertainty.

SwedenBIO’s International Director, Marjo Puumalainen, shares her insights on emerging life science trends based on her many interactions from across the industry, including at JPM. The Nordic life science industry, she notes, is well positioned to take full advantage of several of these trends.  

To succeed as a life science cluster in a medium-sized region, you need to prioritize and pick your battles.

Finland may be modest in population, but it has built one of the world’s most connected and capable cancer research ecosystems. Hospitals, universities, startups, and national initiatives work together in a culture that values trust, openness, and shared purpose. 

SwedenBIO recently released our new Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline Report 2026 at NLSDays in Gothenburg. This fourteenth edition once again shows that Swedish drug development remains on a stable trajectory. Fluctuations in the number of drug-developing companies and in the number or type of projects are minimal compared to our report from three years ago.

Norway can deliver on the EU’s ambitious life science strategy and contribute to health preparedness by building national capacity for RNA formulation and scale-up. 

Following in the footsteps of their predecessors, the new generation of Icelandic life science entrepreneurs are converting their old problems of isolation and a limited workforce into a model system for developing novel therapies and tools to streamline healthcare.

If we look at the existing life science hot spots mentioned in the Draghi report, including Medicon Valley, it is obvious that the likelihood of success will increase dramatically, if we embrace the Golden Triangle in the UK (London- Oxford-Cambridge).

With healthcare systems under unsurmountable pressure and patient care at risk, embracing a holistic approach to sustainable healthcare is critical to protecting the future of healthcare.