Who will receive the next Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award?

The Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award was established in 2021 and has been awarded five times so far. The next recipient or recipients of the award will find themselves in fine company among innovations that have been successfully commercialised and have their origins in research conducted at Uppsala University.

“You could say that this is the University’s very own Nobel Prize for entrepreneurs who have made a significant impact with their innovations. It only becomes an innovation after an idea has been shown to work in a marketplace,” says Per Bengtsson, one of the members of the award committee.

Extensive experience of innovation

Per Bengtsson is the Academy Treasurer at the Uppsala University Foundations Management of Estates and Funds and has extensive experience of working with innovations in Uppsala. He co-founded the business incubator Uppsala Innovation Centre (UIC), where he was also CEO for many years.

“It’s fabulous that Uppsala University has such an award. The winners are indeed worthy of this award, having enabled research findings to be utilised in ways that benefit society and make a big difference.”

Contributing to social development

Christina Frimodig has been on the award committee right from the start. With more than 30 years of experience in life science and several years as CEO of STUNS, the foundation for collaboration between the universities in Uppsala, the business sector and government, she is well-placed to have an excellent overview of Uppala’s innovation environment.

She too emphasises that they are looking for companies that have already successfully commercialised research findings and have established themselves in a marketplace.

“They must be companies that have contributed to social development in various ways. It could be that they have many employees who contribute with taxes, or it could be an innovation that gives a great deal to a lot of people. So there are different levels, but they should all be giving back to society in significant ways.”

Anyone can nominate

Last year’s winner was entrepreneur Ove Öhman, who developed microscopic labs that deliver test results quickly and efficiently – in research, business contexts or health services. He has “has been a bridge-builder between academia and the business sector for several decades and has helped strengthen Uppsala’s innovation environment,” the citation for the award states.

The award winner or winners receive SEK 500,000 and will be celebrated with a ceremony and festive banquet at Uppsala Castle. Soon it will be time for another award ceremony, and anyone can nominate candidates for the award. There are many talented entrepreneurs to choose from, according to Per Bengtsson.

“Globally the Stockholm region, to which Uppsala belongs, has one of the highest densities of start-ups. We have a large number of good companies per capita, and an innovation support system based on collaboration between academia, industry and government,” says Per Bengtsson.

Easy to collaborate

Christina Frimodig adds that Uppsala has an advantage over Stockholm – everything is close at hand, and it is easy to establish collaborations.

“Because it’s relatively small and dense, Uppsala is a great place for collaboration. I know this from my time as CEO of STUNS, when we had collaborations with the municipality, the region, the county administrative board, the universities and the business sector. There are really lots of opportunities for collaboration here.”

Annica Hulth