Making magic on Medicine Hill

We spoke to Annica Grimberg Lignell, who heads up the HealthTech Accelerator to learn more about the magic they are making on ‘Medicine Hill.’

Ok Annica, let us into the secret. How is it possible for your healthtech accelerator programme to get 50% of the successful companies into an internationally acclaimed, mobility-focused, innovation hub set up by world-leading industry partners? 

Haha. Yes. It’s very cool isn’t it. The thing is, it’s not really a big secret or surprise for us. We’ve been working with a strong cross-sector focus for some years now. Eyescanner and Detectivio, the two fantastic companies that are now joining MobilityXlab, have benefitted from strategic work we started in 2019 where we broadened our focus to make sure tech solutions can make a difference in health.

When companies join the Sahlgrenska Science Park accelerator programme, one of the first things we look at and discuss with them is how their innovation could benefit from or make a difference in other sectors within life science or in other industries or applications. If we can identify multiple or more relevant applications for the innovation, we multiply the company’s possibilities of success.

In concrete terms, what is it exactly that companies sign up for when they join the Sahlgrenska Science Park’s accelerator programme?

In a nutshell, each company gets tailored advice and support from our whole expert advisory team to accelerate their growth journey. This involves the most common activities in an incubator, including everything from IP strategies, product development, business models, as well as team recruiting and scaling. We provide guidance and support to navigate in all aspects for startups to become successful. Our focus is on international growth and funding. The two pillars that make everything else come into place. We also connect them with healthcare providers, funding opportunities, collaboration partners, customers and investors.

What other factors make the Sahlgrenska Science Park accelerator programme unique?

We’re extremely tailored towards healthtech. How to get more tech into health, and more healthtech into other industries. We’ve developed from being a broad health innovation accelerator to become focused on healthtech, which, thanks to technology development, is increasingly interesting for entrepreneurs, innovators and investors.

We’ve also assembled a passionate and highly skilled team of business advisors and, as a non-profit organisation that doesn’t have equity in our companies, we have a greater freedom to operate and to connect people from industry, academia and the healthcare sector, with no strings attached.

And what’s in it for you?

Nothing. It’s the pay forward mentality. The excitement of the journey. To get to know these amazing people with such a passion for what they do. To get to support, guide and chisel out cool solutions for them as they try to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Our goal is to develop more successful companies with high growth, preferably with links to West Sweden and international sales.

Looking ahead, what future plans do you have for the accelerator?

We have a high level of ambition and we want to consolidate our position as the leading healthtech business accelerator in the Nordics. So far, we have mainly focused on healthtech startups. We are currently aiming to provide more support to healthtech scale-ups and later also SMEs. We will soon share more details about this and how we plan to evolve to ensure we can help more companies and people grow. Stay tuned!