Young entrepreneurs develop life science ideas

The Nordic region is booming with innovative researchers and top talented professionals. However, to exploit the full potential of the Nordic Life Science community the cross-country collaboration needs to be strengthened even further.

To facilitate the creation of a true Nordic start-up scene, the KI PhD club, KTH Chemistry chapter's business committee, Biopeopla and REBBLS, organized the weekend event Nordic Life Science Innovation Challenge on 6–7 September at KTH.

Swedish and Danish young entrepreneurs and professionals worked together in groups developing life science ideas into innovative solutions. The groups pitched an executive summary of their business idea to a jury of industry leaders and established bio-entrepreneurs. The winning group “ActiGuard” pitched their business idea at the Nordic Life Science Days conference.

“We hope to make this an annual event and extend the number of participating countries and organizations. The hope is to bring young Nordic professionals together in an aspiring and enthusiastic setting and thereby open the doors for new life-science ventures”, says Shiva Mansouri, Postdoc at the Department of Clinical Science and Education, KI Södersjukhuset.

Supporting partners were the Nordic Life Sciences Days 2014, Copenhagen Capacity, BSR Innovation Express, KI Innovation, KTH Innovation, KI Career Club, Vinnova and Brann patent firm.