Why is a strong cluster important and how strong are we?

Additionally, we will explore the statistics and rankings of the Stockholm-Uppsala life science cluster to better understand our current position.

How to build a world-class innovation cluster

Christian Tidona

Founder and Managing Director BioMed X Institute, Heidelberg.

Christian Tidona is a scientist entrepreneur and founder of the BioMed X Institutes based in Heidelberg, Germany and New Haven, Connecticut.
He studied biology and received his doctoral degree in natural sciences from the University of Heidelberg. Throughout his career, his focus was always to seed innovation at the interface between academia and industry.

Christian is co-founder of BioRN in Heidelberg, the cluster management organization at the heart of one of the strongest biomedical innovation hubs in Europe, co-founder of the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine HI-STEM, and member of the Board of Directors of Yeda Research and Development, one of the world's most renowned technology transfer organizations at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

The Stockholm Uppsala life science cluster in numbers and rankings

Björn Arvidsson

STUNS Life Science

Björn Arvidsson is the Managing Director at STUNS Life Science, an organization that promotes the growth of a strong and sustainable life science sector in the Swedish county of Uppsala. STUNS Life Science is the foundation for collaboration between Uppsala’s universities, industry and societies. 
Björn is a doctor of analytical chemistry and worked on developing new methods for determining the content of substances in the body. After a similar assignment at the Swedish Defense Research Institute in Umeå, he started working in diagnostics where he experienced different roles and means to do business with healthcare. After five years Björn moved to the pharmaceutical industry instead to pursue his interest in public policy and governmental affairs.

His accumulated experience led him to his dream job as managing director at STUNS Life Science, acting in the intersection of a strong life science sector, two renowned universities and an ambitious and fast growing civil society. Björn strongly believes that the future is in collaboration and co-creation and works towards making Uppsala a world-leading ecosystem for life science. In addition, Björn is often involved in national and international forums to raise Sweden's position in life science, including working groups and industry associations. He is also a frequent columnist and writer in various media, and often lectures on the topic of the future of healthcare.

Pontus Holm

Head of the Region Stockholm Programme Office for Life Science and Smart Specialisation.

Pontus Holm is the head of the Programme Office for Life Sciences and Smart Specialisation at Region Stockholm. The Programme Office works to realize the Region Stockholm life sciences strategy through supporting the development and implementation of action plans in extensive interaction with all parts of the life sciences sector. Pontus has throughout his career been a dedicated developer of the life sciences systems in Stockholm, Sweden and Europe. 

Pontus has a Master’s degree in biomedicine from Uppsala University and holds a PhD in molecular developmental neurobiology from the Karolinska Institutet. After an EMBO long term postdoctoral fellowship and a Karolinska Institutet postdoctoral fellowship, Pontus left academia for the OECD-initiated organisation International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF). He was later international coordinator for the Swedish Research Council and most recently spent four years with the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation and the National Office for Life Sciences.