Steps shaping innovation and growth – Natasha Bank sums up the first year of Life Science Cluster Flemingsberg
A future life science cluster isn’t built in a year – but with a solid foundation and the courage to act, important steps can be taken along the way. In February 2025, we launched Life Science Cluster Flemingsberg: a multifaceted project with powerful, interconnected ambitions – to enable Flemingsberg’s life science cluster to reach its full potential by collaboration and creating the right conditions for the establishment and growth of those who drive innovation – small and medium-sized enterprises – and, in doing so, contribute to the Stockholm region’s strong position within the sector.
Meaningful Meeting Places and a Hub for Innovation
So, how do you tackle something this broad – and how has this first year gone? From the start, we chose to invest in something deeply human to understand what is truly needed to reach these goals. Continuous meeting places where industry, academia and healthcare can come together. Weekly breakfast seminars every Wednesday and monthly fairs on the last Wednesday of each month – always in the same location, at Novum Research Park. A standing invitation that proved to be the right approach.
Over the year, these meeting places have become more than recurring touchpoints between busy workdays – they have evolved into vibrant arenas where new collaborations, knowledge, ideas, and community can grow. Relationships have deepened, new connections have been made, and actors who had not previously discovered each other’s work have had the opportunity to do so. At the same time, they have also attracted curious visitors from outside our cluster, putting Flemingsberg on the map for those who had not yet explored the area.
At our home base, Novum Labs – the research park’s co-working and co-lab environment – we have also had the pleasure of welcoming eight new establishments. Here, offices, labs, and corridors are now filled with companies of varying sizes and areas of expertise, making it a hub where innovation and community meet in practice.
Doors Opening the Way to New Opportunities
Parallel to this, we have focused on another, very central part of why this project exists: helping more small and medium-sized enterprises discover Flemingsberg’s wide range of core facilities, specialized research infrastructures that offer opportunities to accelerate both research and innovation. A crucial initiative, where we’ve worked purposefully to both increase visibility and initiate concrete dialogues that can lead to collaborations and make it easier for SMEs to translate their ideas into practice.
Honoring Historic Milestones and Forums for the Future
We have also supported two historic milestones that clearly illustrate Flemingsberg’s legacy and the powerful, collaborative ecosystem present here: the inauguration of the Karolinska ATMP Center and the 50th anniversary of Sweden’s first allogeneic bone marrow transplant, performed at what was then called Huddinge Hospital (now Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge). We have also carried the Flemingsberg flag beyond the cluster – including at a sunny Almedalen, a vibrant Nordic Life Science Days in Gothenburg, and an inspiring ATMP conference in Barcelona. Important forums for bringing back inspiration, ideas, new collaborations, and valuable relationships.
Steps Showing the Way Forward
This first year has truly been remarkable. But, as with any endeavor, challenges remain. Flemingsberg’s life science cluster is by no means new, yet awareness of the area and all the opportunities it offers remains undeservedly low. This is a driving force behind our continued work. A life science cluster for the future is as mentioned not built in a year, nor by a single actor. It develops when many hands work together toward the same goal, and that has been clearly demonstrated this year.
We now enter year two with valuable insights, a clearer understanding of needs, and tangible proof of what is required to continue developing Flemingsberg into a shining life science destination on the map – one that, with its full potential, contributes to the Stockholm region’s strong position in innovation.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has made – and continues to make – this possible.
/Natasha Bank, Cluster Manager, Life Science Cluster Flemingsberg
Life Science Cluster Flemingsberg is co-funded by The European Regional Development Fund through the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket), carried out in collaboration with co-funders Region Stockholm, Botkyrka kommun, Huddinge kommun and Hemsö, and in close partnership with Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm’s Life Science Office.
