Crisp ideas from the north of Sweden
Umeå University was founded in 1965 and is today the 6th largest taking around 35,000 students.
Umeå has some world-class research and infrastructure for researchers in Biochemical Imaging Centre Umeå (BICU), Umeå Centre for Electron Microscopy, (UCEM), Umeå center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI), PREDICT – biobank, Swedish Metabolomics Centre (SMC)
In Sweden, the researchers own the rights to their own ideas, something called ”the teachers’ exemption”. No TTO:s exist but the universities have Innovation Offices that guide researchers.
Umeå Biotech Incubator (UBI) is part of the innovation ecosystem surrounding Umeå University and one of 6 life science incubators in Sweden. Ideas that pass the Innovation Office can apply to UBI for further business development of their ideas.
UBI is a publicly funded incubator providing lab space, offices, soft funding, and business coaches to each admitted case/startup.
Life Science Ecosystem in Umeå
- Umeå University with strong scientific record (Noble Prize CRISPR)
- Umeå University Hospital for clinical research.
- Innovation system with 2 incubators, Uminova and Umeå Biotech Incubator.
- Around 20 ongoing startups within Life Science.
- 6 pharma development companies: Lipum, Lipigon, QureTech Bio, Metacurum, Omnio, Vakona
- 3 diagnostic companies: Nordic Biomarker, UmanDiagnostics/Quanterix and Hiloprobe
- 2 medtech companies: Medicvent and Likvor
- 2 international companies within laboratory equipment: Cytiva, Sartorius
- 2 pharma production facilities: APL and Diamyd
- 1 CRO: Inficure Bio
- 1 antibody producer: Agrisera (Olink)
Collaborative atmosphere
The success key behind the growth in Life science Umeå is collaboration. Here are some examples of bridges between companies, industry, and academia.
- The CEO network. Connects the CEOs of the Life science companies in Umeå to joint meetings.
- The QA network. Meets four times a year. Gather over 20 QA:s from the industry to discuss common challenges and issues.
- “Umeå Life Science”. Consists of seven Life science companies in Umeå. It was formed to discuss competence supply, mentorship over company boundaries, and joint education.
- The Industry Council. Intended to promote collaboration and meeting points between the university in Umeå and the Life science industry.
- CU4LS (The Coalition Umeå for Life Science) An initiative at the University to promote collaboration within the life science research community.
- Umeå Biotech Incubator. Arrange numerous events for Life Science Umeå, such as a Life science pub, breakfast seminars, a Life science job fair, a fair for service companies, and much more.
Travel
- 1-hour flight from Stockholm to Umeå, operated by three airlines.
- 6 hours by train from Stockholm to Umeå.
- 4 hours by boat to Vaasa, Finland.
- In Umeå, everything is close. A round tour along the Life Science Umeå beltway takes 36 minutes by car and 75 minutes by bike.
The city of Umeå
- Umeå is the largest town in the north of Sweden with 130,000 inhabitants. The county of Västerbotten holds 276,500 inhabitants in an area slightly larger than the Netherlands…
- Offers festivals and exciting events of all sizes in music, theatre, dance, sports, food, and much more.
- Proximity to nature.
- Called “Björkarnas stad” – the city of birches.
- Umeå municipality has Life science as one of three prioritized areas in the growth strategy for Umeå.
- Interested in taking a leap to Umeå? Find out more on Gateway Umeå.
