Katarina Blomkvist receives the Uppsala University Innovation Prize 'Hjärnäpplet'
This year’s Uppsala University Innovation Prize goes to Katarina Blomkvist, Professor of Business Administration, specifically Entrepreneurship, who would like to see innovation being a natural part of the daily work of companies and organisations. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University.
After 20 years of research into entrepreneurship, Katarina Blomkvist noticed a gap between what is known about innovation and how organisations actually operate. The professor and founder of the company Daily Innovation is now being honoured with this year’s Uppsala University Innovation Prize 'Hjärnäpplet' for her work on translating research into benefits to society in practice.
This year’s winner is Katarina Blomkvist, professor of Business Studies, whose special interest is entrepreneurship, and is the founder of the company Daily Innovation.
“It’s a pleasure to receive the Uppsala University Innovation Prize 'Hjärnäpplet', especially since it highlights the value of research that can be translated into tangible benefits. The prize also comes at a time when the issue of innovation is more urgent than ever,” says Katarina Blomkvist.
Innovation a hot topic
Innovation is a very hot topic. For example, the EU is emphasising that innovation is absolutely crucial to Europe’s future competitiveness, security, and the green transition. The European Commission recently stated that Europe must narrow the innovation gap with the USA and China by taking research from the lab to market more rapidly.
“We’ve developed a research-based method for unlocking the innovative potential inside companies.”
The method is called the ‘Daily Innovation Process 364 (DIP 364)’ and is based on research on intrapreneurship and how established companies can retain or rediscover their entrepreneurial spirit. The goal is to make innovation a natural part of day-to-day operations – 364 days a year.
Katarina Blomkvist has been conducting research into entrepreneurship for 20 years and realised that systematic tools were needed to measure, understand, change, and follow up in order to bring about a strategic shift.
“Sweden has traditionally been an innovative country, but competition among companies is now extremely fierce. You have to be at the front line all the time, and there is a lack of understanding about how to address these questions, even though research and knowledge that can be readily applied are available.”
Packaged knowledge as both method and tool
She therefore developed her research into a method for mapping, measuring, and analysing a company’s actual capacity for innovation. The method also includes research-based measures to bring about real change and strengthen innovation capacity.
“Using these tools, we can identify where in the organisation things are working well and where they are not working so well, and we can help raise awareness and assist organisations in moving forward through various types of targeted measures,” says Katarina.
The idea behind DIP 364 is to transform innovation from a vague vision or isolated ‘kick-off activity’ into a systematic, measurable, and manageable tool for management.
“Whenever we’ve visited organisations, the reaction is that they have previously relied on a gut feeling, but now they have access to a tool that can really benefit them,” she says.
Works in all industries and organisations
DIP 364 is in essence generic and works in all types of industries and organisations.
“We make some adjustments depending on the industry, role and connection to the strategic challenge in question, which might be sustainability or preparedness, for example.
An important part of the method is to always keep one foot at the cutting edge of research.
“That’s my role in the company, and it’s great to be able to combine both of these roles. I’m genuinely happy that DIP 364 can make a difference, and it’s an honour to be able to contribute, give back to society, and have a positive impact.”
Anders Berndt
The Uppsala University Innovation Prize 'Hjärnäpplet'
Uppsala University annually awards the innovation prize (in Swedish the Hjärnäpplet or ‘apple for the brain’) to recognise and reward researchers and doctoral students who have generated research results or knowledge assets that have led to an innovation. The prize consists of a diploma, a statuette and a grant of SEK 50,000.
From the award citation:
"The Uppsala Innovation Prize 'Hjärnäpplet' for 2026 is awarded to Professor Katarina Blomkvist for successfully translating research into intrapreneurship and innovation into a new way of working for organisations. By developing and disseminating the DIP 364 method, she has provided both the public sector and the private sector with a powerful tool for systematically developing their capacity for innovation. Her strong commitment to the practical application of research strengthens organisations’ capacity for innovation and their opportunities to help shape the society of the future.”
The Innovation Prize 'Hjärnäpplet' will be awarded during Uppsala University’s annual anniversary celebrations on 7 October 2026.