Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, has taken a group of eleven UK businesses specializing in advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) for a deep dive into the Swedish ecosystem.
During visits to institutions like Karolinska Institutet, the KTH Royal Institute and AstraZeneca, the UK delegation got a chance to forge new collaboration partnerships with the region’s world-leading health and life sciences sector. The programme was designed to build on a joint memorandum of understanding in life sciences that the Swedish and UK governments signed in May 2022, to drive cooperation across local, regional and national healthcare, research and innovation systems.
It is safe to say that we were all really impressed with the supportive and considered local ecosystems for emerging ATMP companies across Sweden on our recent visit.”
“It is safe to say that we were all really impressed with the supportive and considered local ecosystems for emerging ATMP companies across Sweden on our recent visit. Personally, the dedicated and available lab space for start-ups across Stockholm, Gothenburg and Lund was viewed with particular envy,” said Adam Inche, founder and CEO of Lentitek, which looks to develop a new approach to increase lentiviral production yields.
“I am really excited by the fantastic opportunities for collaboration that this visit has generated, and I look forward to exploring how the Lentitek technology can help improve the production of lentivirus both in the lab and beyond,” he added.
The tour included meetings with Swedish companies working on next generation ATMP at Flemingsberg, the AstraZeneca team in Gothenburg, as well as the BioVenture Hub and GoCO Health Innovation City.
Strong emphasis on collaborative working
The tour included meetings with Swedish companies working on next generation ATMP at Flemingsberg, the AstraZeneca team in Gothenburg, as well as the BioVenture Hub and GoCO Health Innovation City. In Lund, the UK companies got to see the city’s world leading stem cell centre and the nearby Medicon Village, before crossing the bridge into Denmark for meetings with experts from Novo Nordisk and the Medicon Village.
It expects some strong and impactful new partnerships to emerge in the coming months.”
Innovate UK said the delegation was struck by the strong emphasis on collaborative working among the leading ATMP experts and entrepreneurs they met during the programme. The agency will now continue to work closely with the UK delegates to further develop the new contacts made in Sweden and Denmark. It expects some strong and impactful new partnerships to emerge in the coming months.
During visits to institutions like Karolinska Institutet, the KTH Royal Institute and AstraZeneca, the UK delegation got a chance to forge new collaboration partnerships with the region’s world-leading health and life sciences sector.
“The global business programme visit to Sweden was an extraordinary opportunity to meet academics, facility coordinators and companies developing ATMPs. A real eye-opener to what is happening in the Uppsala/Stockholm, Göteborg and Lund/Copenhagen clusters and how we as a UK SME can make the most of the collaborative opportunities on offer,” said Dr Antonio Postigo, Chief Scientific Officer at Stratosvir Ltd, one of the visiting companies.
Innovate UK runs the Global Business Innovation Programme, helping ambitious UK companies with cutting-edge technologies to enter global markets of strategic importance and find international collaboration partners.
