“We need to keep investing in research and innovation”
I caught up with Jenni Nordborg the National Co-ordinator for Life Sciences in Sweden after she had spoken at the Journal of Internal Medicine at the Aula Medica, Karolinska Institute in Stockholm where there were 380 attendees from academics, organisations and industry at the event talking about cutting-edge implementation of precision medicine in Europe.
What does Life Sciences mean to you?
“Health and competitiveness.”
Why did you take on the role on?
“My experience from Vinnova showed me the importance to work throughout the ecosystem, to be able to join forces and collaborate in a more structured way.”
What have your biggest challenges been?
“To show that we have made progress and how to communicate this to the stakeholders. Many initiatives have been taken in line with the targets of the national strategy, but it takes time before the actions get through to the general people who are going to benefit from these.”
Are the regions a hinder or can we drive them quicker to working together nationally?
“The regions are regions, they are very important but of course the development of, for example data that is created needs to be shared together quicker. There is much more work to be done, there needs to be less work in parallels and more of a shared agenda amongst the regions.”
How long do you see your role being?
“The Office for Life Sciences at the Government Offices continues to work, but my mandate as national coordinator ends in December 2022.”
How is the new government going to affect the Office for life sciences?
“Life sciences has been a long-term priority of governments since many years and I have no doubt that the ambitions will be strong going forward. Politicians understand that this sector is important to the sustainability of the country. This has certainly been highlighted during the pandemic time and that we are in a data driven society. Health and wellbeing will be the foundation of what we do as a nation.”
In the strategy one of the priority areas is competitiveness and how can we achieve this?
“We need to keep investing in research and innovation. Talent attraction is very important. We also need to join forces with our Nordic neighbours and collaborate on a much larger scale to be able to be the best we can.”
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