Collaboration – key to strengthen life science in West Sweden

The life science industry in West Sweden is a mix of large international companies and over 400 SME, startups and scaleups. Region Västra Götaland (VGR) is one of the largest healthcare providers in Sweden, and the five universities in the region form a backbone of scientific excellence. In short – West Sweden has a great potential to become a global hub for life science and health innovation, says Linda Skogsberg. She works at Sahlgrenska Science Park as Cluster Project Manager for Health Innovation West.

Health Innovation West is a cluster organization that was formed by representatives from the industry, academia and the healthcare sector in 2019 with the joint ambition to strengthen life science in West Sweden.

– We work as a platform for cross-sector and cross-functional collaboration and innovation related to human health, and a window for West Swedish life science. By strengthening collaboration, we can identify challenges and find solutions together, and strengthen innovation. Showing our strengths also enables us to attract talents, investments, and establishments here in West Sweden, says Linda Skogsberg.

Having a thriving life science sector is important for the whole society, says Linda Skogsberg. By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or older. The demographic shift represents a challenge to the traditional healthcare model. Life science and health innovations will play an important role in enabling society to provide high quality care to a growing number of patients at sustainable costs.

– Life science is about our health. Finding new ways to treat illnesses, for example by using artificial intelligence to assist healthcare service providers in making better decisions on patient's diagnoses and treatment options, but also finding better ways to keep us healthy, says Linda Skogsberg.

The strength of collaboration within the field was clearly seen during the covid pandemic.

– A highly effective vaccine was developed at a remarkable speed thanks to collaboration and joint efforts, says Linda Skogsberg.

Gothenburg has a fast-growing tech scene and is home to many of Sweden's brightest technology companies as well as big global players, like Volvo Group, SKF and Astra Zeneca.

– What we see now is a trend that different tech sectors converge, and life science solutions are being used in other industries such as automotive. Life science will play an increasingly important role in sector convergence in the near future, says Linda Skogsberg.