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.

When the next pandemic, climate-driven health crisis, or antimicrobial threat strikes will we be ready? True preparedness is not measured in stockpiles or contingency plans alone. It lies in our ability to harness life science as a cornerstone of resilience – connecting human, animal, and environmental health to build societies that can withstand the crises of tomorrow.

Innovation is obviously a key component of future competitiveness. Consequently, the very same stakeholders from industry, academia, research and the political sphere, who have embraced the Draghi report’s recommendations on European competitiveness and the European life science strategy published this summer by the European Commission, have also welcomed the new 2025 European Innovation Scoreboard analysis.

Many times in life, as in politics and business, bad events lead to painful change and, eventually, a better situation. While the Trump administration’s erratic tariff war has rattled the European life science industry, it might ultimately be the calamity that brings about a more resilient industry in the end.