Nominations now open for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

Established in 2021, the award has already celebrated several exciting entrepreneurs.

The first year, the award went to Ulf Landegren, Björn Ekström and Jon Heimer, the brains behind the successful biotech company Olink Proteomics. The following year, software company Imint won the award for its smart solutions that stabilise video on mobile phones.

In the third year, Mats Karlsson, Professor of Pharmacometrics, was honoured for building the consultancy Pharmetheus based on his research at the University. In the fourth year, Lars Lannfelt, Pär Gellerfors and Gunilla Osswald received the award for their work on developing a drug that slows down Alzheimer’s disease in the company BioArctic.

It is now time for nominations for the fifth edition of the award. The winners will share SEK 500,000 and will be celebrated with an award ceremony in the Grand Auditorium, followed by a banquet.

Anyone can nominate

Anyone at all can nominate a candidate.

Your nomination must include a written justification, which is the most important factor in the selection process. It should show how the nominee has played a decisive role in a discovery or innovation that has been translated into successful commercialisation or implementation with considerable benefit to society.

The award winner(s) should have created a new, viable enterprise and be a current or former student, an active researcher or employee, or have some other strong connection to Uppsala University.

Nominations welcome from across the entire University

The Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award aims to recognise innovation and entrepreneurship from across the entire University.

The Award Committee, which selects the winners, therefore welcomes nominations from all parts of the University.

Fredrik Tell, Professor of Business Studies, is a member of the Award Committee. He is a former board member of UU Invest, Uppsala University’s investment company.

He explains that innovations do not have to be products or services that can be bought and sold. Social innovations are also eligible.

“It can be difficult for researchers in the humanities and social sciences to see how the knowledge they produce can be easily transformed into commercial goods or services,” Tell admits.

The humanities and social sciences primarily generate knowledge that cannot be patented, for example.

“Social innovations can instead be a matter of developing working practices that benefit society. This might involve, say, methods for use by psychologists and therapists, new forms of social organisation or new arenas for cultural expression.”

Social innovations are generally described as services, goods, methods and practices that contribute to an inclusive and thriving society. They often bring people together to create shared value and change behaviours and norms.

This broad view of innovation is also reflected in the selection criteria for the award, which refer to “implementation [...] with considerable benefit to society”.

Time for nominations

So now it is time to nominate more exciting entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who can join the ranks of the successful previous recipients of the Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award.

“The award recognises knowledge created by staff and students at the University who have added value through creative translation and action,” Tell concludes.

Anders Berndt