Jennie Ekbeck, former CEO of Umeå Biotech Incubator, is now working for the business incubator Lead that supports promising start-ups in Östergötland. Her mission is to transform the academic potential in Linköping and Norrköping into flourishing companies.
Jennie Ekbeck has a background in biomedicine and she has also studied business economics and law at Umeå University. In the autumn of last year, that same university awarded her an honorary doctorate at the faculty of Science and Technology. She has a curious mind and is always looking for new challenges, she says. So, after eleven years developing and growing Umeå’s life science offering, it is now Linköping’s and Norrköping’s turn.
The untapped potential within the university has yet to manifest in the growing start-up scenes of both Linköping and Norrköping. It’s in the same phase as Umeå was a couple of years ago.”
“Linköping University is a strong university within life sciences, but the untapped potential within the university has yet to manifest in the growing start-up scenes of both Linköping and Norrköping. It’s in the same phase as Umeå was a couple of years ago,” she states. “The reason why I accepted this position at Lead is because I’d like to help companies grow and transform their academic potential into solutions that will help the world, and make the region even more attractive for students to stay.”
Strategic guidance
When Jennie first meets start-ups, she tries to comprehend their problems, challenges, and demands, she explains. She assists them in self-reflection, guides them to understand the foundations of their strategy, and helps them discern what is necessary to get funding.
It’s like a Titanic, it’s so hard to make a turn when you see the iceberg.”
“The business strategy should be based on facts, not beliefs, because guessing is very dangerous in business, and even more so in life science. If you base the decision on the wrong type of data, it can cost a lot of money,” she says. “It’s like a Titanic, it’s so hard to make a turn when you see the iceberg.”
The most challenging aspect of her role is enlightening individuals about what they are unaware of and encouraging necessary changes. “No-one likes to change, the thing is how easily you adapt to it,” she says.
Failure, success, and reward
Jennie Ekbeck has achieved success after a lot of training and work along her career path, but also thanks to mistakes, she says.
“It’s very important that you make mistakes, and it’s okay to make them. They are part of life. I make mistakes in how to tackle situations;, sometimes I am too direct. If you don’t dare to fail, you’ll never be successful,” she points out.
If you don’t dare to fail, you’ll never be successful.”
For her, success is not a goal, but a process. Taking small steps and adapting to changes can make a significant difference.
“I feel I’ve succeeded in my job not only when I witness a company flourish but also when I assist people in building their ability to recognize when a certain business idea may not work and empower them to go back and redo it,” she explains. “To make a company thrive I help them open their eyes to the reality.”
As a business developer she illuminates unclear areas, providing guidance on how to navigate challenges, offering education, and connecting companies with the right individuals who can contribute valuable knowledge.
“The most rewarding part of my job is when people grow. When you see entrepreneurs who don’t believe in themselves and are scared at the beginning, you give them the tools and you help them train. It’s like seeing a small child sitting, then crawling, then starting walking, and then running. It’s the same type of feeling, and you are so proud when you see they don’t need you anymore and they can survive for themselves,” she says.
On the horizon
Jennie Ekbeck loves building businesses and building people, and she thinks that’s something she’ll continue doing in the future, as well as learning and developing new skills as a leader. “I would also like to work with more developed companies and not only start-ups,” she adds. “The fun part of the future is that you don’t know, and that makes me excited.”
The fun part of the future is that you don’t know, and that makes me excited.”
Everything is possible, she says, and she hopes that when she is old she will still have this blue-eyed vision of the future and that feeling that you can change the world. “I hope that I am still curious, and I don’t have any regrets. I would like to be that old lady that’s very wrinkled but has clear blue eyes and is still very curious about the world. That is my goal,” she concludes.
This interview was originally published in NLS magazine No 01 2024, out February 2024
Photo: Malin Grönborg
About the author
Paula Pérez González-Anguiano, M.Sc. in Scientific, Medical and Environmental Communication, is a Science Journalist and Illustrator based in Barcelona, Spain.
