Nominate for the next Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

The Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award was established in 2021 and has been presented three times so far. On the first occasion it went to Ulf Landegren, Björn Ekström and Jon Heimer – the trio behind the successful biotech company Olink Proteomics.

The following year, software company Imint was recognised for its innovative solutions for video stabilisation on smartphones. The winners that time were Andreas Lifvendahl, Johan Svensson and Harald Klomp.

Last year's winner was Mats Karlsson, professor of pharmacometrics, who built up the consultancy firm Pharmetheus. He has successfully transformed academic excellence from a world-class research environment into a prominent and viable consultancy firm, the citation reads.

The winners share SEK 500,000 and are celebrated with an award ceremony in the Grand Auditorium followed by a festive banquet.

Anyone can nominate

It’s therefore that time again and everyone is free to nominate someone. Tomas Nygren and Christel Bergström are both members of the award committee that will select next year's winners. They are looking for one or more individuals who have commercialised or otherwise exploited a discovery or innovation based on research or education at Uppsala University.

“They should be people who have identified something useful that could add value to society, a patient, a customer group or the environment. We want to create role models, which is very important. Hopefully, it will give researchers or students the idea that they can do something more than research or education, that they can help create benefits for society,” explains Nygren.

He is a board member of UU Invest and has worked on early-stage innovation and investment for the past 15 years at Industrifonden (the Swedish Industrial Development Fund), Almi and Innovationsbron.

Focus on Uppsala's innovation environment

Nygren notes that the innovation environment in Uppsala has recently produced second and third-time innovators. Experience is built up and new generations are trained in research. This also gives Uppsala a competitive edge, notes Bergström.

She also has extensive insight into Uppsala as an innovation environment, as a professor and innovator in drug development.

“We now want to identify some of the best innovators and say ‘thank you’ from the University. Doing this will not come for free, as it requires a lot of hard work. We cannot take innovation for granted – it is an environment that we need to maintain and value.”

Annica Hulth