Helena Strigård from SwedenBIO Writing a new Nordic Saga… In collaboration with Nordic Life Science Magazine Too few people around the world have heard the Nordic Saga about truly heroic deeds in life sciences. The one which starts with five small nations, far up in the North, each of them developing amazing innovations, based on groundbreaking research, often stemming from prestigious universities and in close collaboration with industry. Ultimately targeting not just survival, but a renewed quality of life for patients struck by diseases of all kinds. Yet, at first, the five countries were struggling to bring those ideas to market. Put simply, neither the international investors with the capital needed to turn ideas into phase 2 trials nor the big pharma, biotech and medtech companies looking to partner up with cool external innovation knew enough about the wonders going on in this region of the world. That was long ago. Things have changed. The Nordics have now unified to become one giant in life sciences! With each Nordic country excelling on its own merits, the joint innovative power of our nations coming together as one huge Life Science Region is matched only by a few hotspots around the world. With a myriad of companies growing and hiring across the whole region the future is looking exceedingly bright. Furthermore, the best thing about this saga is that it is true, based on facts and figures. Nevertheless, this new, modern Nordic Life Science Saga has still not been sufficiently told. We believe more people need to hear about the uniqueness of these five neighboring countries far up North, all excelling in the same academic and industrial fields – while sharing cultural values of openness, trust and innovation. That is why we can´t wait to welcome you to Malmö on 28-29 September for the Nordics largest partnering meeting in life sciences, Nordic Life Science Days. And that is why we are so proud to share with you some highlights of the program, built around each country´s strength. Going from East to West, we will dive into the Deep Tech wonders of Finland, looking closer into how tech companies are revolutionizing healthcare through AI and quantum computing (how cool is that!!) and how the Nordic investment community is contributing as a real game changer. We will learn from Sweden how Convergence is Erasing Silos, with companies such as AstraZeneca and Volvo Cars jointly sharing thoughts around what technology can bring in support of health in every-day life. You will hear about MindForce GameLab which can´t really be labelled as a gaming OR life science company, they are both! Because reality simply needed both to solve a real-world problem for patients. Our journey will take us to Denmark, home of Femtech, where we will be reproducing medical sciences for the other 50%: Women! Yes, you heard me. This is not just about women´s health anymore. It is about how new and existing drugs and therapies should be adjusted to the biology of women. With the Nordic countries being on the frontline of gender equality, it makes perfect sense that important steps in rethinking medicine are taking place here with big pharma (such as Ferring Pharmaceuticals), investors (such as PAACS invest) and entrepreneurs (too many to name drop) pushing for change. Moving further West, Norway will show off how Patient Centricity is a crucial component and success factor in addressing Rare Diseases. Finally, the smallest nation of them all – Iceland – will make your jaws drop with their contribution to the breakthroughs in Omics coming out of the Nordics. I can´t wait to tell you more about this Saga! Meanwhile, make sure to follow the latest news from Nordic Life Science Magazine