Norway for life science

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The Norway for life science stand at NLS days 2019.

The biggest key players from the life science industry in Norway came together in Malmö with a common goal: to promote Norwegian life science and build Nordic collaboration.

The life science industry in Norway is booming and collaboration across Nordic borders is of increasing importance. That is why Oslo Cancer Cluster arranged the stand “Norway for Life Science” this year at the Nordic Life Science Days in Malmö.

Among the participants of the stand were governmental institutions, cluster organisations, private companies and academic institutions.

 

Promoting collaboration

On Wednesday, a delegation from the Norwegian Embassy in Sweden attended for an informal meet and greet with the Norwegian life science milieu. This was an excellent opportunity to share knowledge about Nordic cooperation and to strengthen joint activities within the life sciences.

See the video with Kirsten Hammelbo, Minister / Deputy Head of Mission, Norwegian Embassy below.

 

Standing together

The participants of the stand were altogether positive about the initiative and agreed it was a constructive platform to build new relationships. We asked some of the participants the same question: Why is it important for you to be here at NLS days?

“Our main focus here at NLS Days is Nordic collaboration, both public and private, to promote the life science industry.”
Catherine Capdeville, Senior Adviser, Innovation Norway

“It is important to follow what is happening in the industry and in other innovation environments. We are here to nurture our existing contacts and find new partners.”
Morten Egeberg, Administrative leader, UiO Life Science

“Firstly, it is important to show that Norway stands together. This is a significant meeting place. We consider the Nordic countries to be our home market, so we try to present what we do here. It is important for one actor to take responsibility, like Oslo Cancer Cluster does, so that we can collectively gather here.”
Anita Moe Larsen, Head of Communication, Norway Health Tech

“In the long term, we have research projects where we are looking for contacts in the life science industry – both partners of collaboration and potential clients. We are here to promote the centre and let everyone know that we exist.”
Alexandra Patriksson, Senior Adviser, Centre for Digital Life

“We are here to strengthen our collaboration with the best research environments in neuroscience. We want to show that the health industry in Norway is growing and what we can do when we stand together.”
Bjarte Reve, CEO, Nansen Neuroscience Network

“We are happy to contribute to make Norwegian life sciences visible and to show what Norway can offer as a host country, and attract potential investors and collaborating partners in research and innovation. And especially to make visible and be a part of the Norwegian community in this field. It is unusual in Norway that so many different players, both public and private, stand together in one stand – with one common goal.”
Espen Snipstad, Communications Manager, LMI

 

Full list of partners:

 

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The Norwegian life science stand 2018 at Nordic Life Science Days. Our partners this year were Norway Health Tech, Aleap, University of Oslo: Life Science, The Life Science Cluster, Invent2, NORIN, Nansen Neuroscience Network, LMI, Innovation Norway and The Norwegian Research Council.

Norwegian life science on exhibition

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The strong life science actors in Norway joined forces during the conference Nordic Life Science Days 2018.

Oslo Cancer Cluster aims to enhance the visibility of oncology innovation made in Norway by being a significant partner for international clusters, global biopharma companies and academic centres. We used the conference Nordic Life Science Days 2018 in Stockholm this September week to show the growing Norwegian life science environment.

The Norwegian stand
From 2015 onward, we have had a Norwegian stand promoting Norwegian healthcare and life science industry together with other life science actors in Norway. Our partners this year were Norway Health Tech, Aleap, University of Oslo: Life Science, The Life Science Cluster, Invent2, NORIN, Nansen Neuroscience Network, LMI, Centre for Digital Life Norway, Innovation Norway and The Norwegian Research Council. Together we represent the essence of Norwegian Life Science.

 

The Norwegian delegation with Ambassador Christian Syse visited the stand in 2018. From the left: Jutta Heix, International Advisor at Oslo Cancer Cluster, Christian Syse, the Norwegian Ambassador to Sweden, Tina Norlander, Senior Advisor in Innovation Norway and Jeppe Bucher, Intern at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Stockholm.

 

A European meeting place
There are several important meeting places for life science actors in Europe, such as BIO-Europe, BIO-Europe Spring and Nordic Life Science Days at the top of the list. Oslo Cancer Cluster is the oncology partner at the Nordic Life Science Days.

Are you interested in what the big oncology session during the Nordic Life Science Days 2018 was all about? The topic was cancer immunotherapy, also known as immuno-oncology.

This article gives you the highlights of the session.

More Nordic collaboration
As a region, the Nordic countries are of international importance in the field of cancer research and innovation, especially in precision medicine, and Oslo Cancer Cluster participates in advancing Nordic collaboration. Oslo Cancer Cluster also engages in more cancer specific European events. One example is the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy Meeting (CIMT), which is the largest European meeting in the field of cancer immunotherapy.

Read more about our international work

Our International Work

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Oslo Cancer Cluster aims to enhance the visibility of oncology innovation made in Norway by being a significant partner for international clusters, global biopharma companies and academic centres.

– Our goal is to support our members in their effort to attract international partners, investments and successful academia-industry collaborations, says International Advisor Jutta Heix.

Heix is responsible for the cluster’s international initiatives, cluster network and partnering activities.

– Back in 2008, Oslo Cancer Cluster was not visible internationally, and few people knew about oncology innovation in Norway. We began to seek out partners and actively approach international pharma companies and other clusters offering relevant synergies, says Heix.


Building relationships abroad
The relationships thrive on joint initiatives. These include invitations to Norway with tailored programmes, where potential collaboration partners can meet academic teams, start-ups and biotechs. Oslo Cancer Cluster has also joined forces with other hubs and clusters internationally.

One such collaboration is the International Cancer Cluster Showcase (ICCS) at the global biotechnology gathering BIO International Convention in the US. In 2017, it is arranged for the 6th time, with European and North American partners, including the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, The Oncopole in Québec, The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, Medicen in Paris and BioCat in Catalonia.

– This year the ICCS will showcase 24 innovative oncology companies from nine international innovation hubs and clusters. Three of our member companies in Oslo Cancer Cluster will use the opportunity to pitch their products and ideas to a global oncology audience, says Heix.

Jutta Heix is Oslo Cancer Cluster’s international advisor.


European and Nordic arenas
Meeting places are important in Europe too, with BIO-Europe, BIO-Europe Spring and Nordic Life Science Days at the top of the list. Oslo Cancer Cluster is the oncology partner at the Nordic Life Science Days. As a region, the Nordic countries are of international importance in the field of cancer research and innovation, especially in precision medicine, and Oslo Cancer Cluster participates in advancing Nordic collaboration.

Oslo Cancer Cluster also engages in more cancer specific European events. One example is the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy Meeting (CIMT), which is the largest European meeting in the field of cancer immunotherapy, also known as immuno-oncology.

– Many of our members are active in the field of immuno-oncology, so for a couple of years we have organized an event called CIMT Endeavour with German partners. The aim here is to discuss and promote translational research and innovation in immuno-oncology, says Heix.


Hot topics
Cancer immunotherapy has had a major impact on cancer treatment and global research and development in the cancer field. The concept took off with the approval of the first immune-checkpoint inhibitor, called Ipilimumab, in 2011. It offered a ground breaking new treatment for melanoma. In 2013, Science Magazine defined cancer immunotherapy as the breakthrough of the year. Since then, immunotherapy has been dominating the agenda of oncology meetings.

Other hot research and development topics are precision medicine and the increased digitization of the health sector. Oslo Cancer Cluster incorporates these topics in the international work, and aims to expand the services it provides for its members. The cluster recently got funding from Innovation Norway to do this, by adding an EU-advisor to the team.

– We want to increase our members’ involvement in EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. The new EU-advisor will help our members identify relevant funding schemes, find partners and prepare the applications, says Heix.

This initiative has already started to show some results. In the spring of 2017, Oslo Cancer Cluster member OncoImmunity AS won a prestigious Horizon 2020 SME Instrument grant, tailored for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This grant targets innovative businesses with international ambitions — such as the bioinformatics company OncoImmunity.

 

New meeting places
– Member needs are important for us, as it is for clusters in general. Our network is for the benefit of our members. A good way of leveraging the network, is by creating relevant initiatives and new meeting places – to keep things moving forward, says Heix.

Oslo Cancer Cluster has new international initiatives coming up. One is in immuno-oncology, bringing Norwegian biotechs to the well-established research communities on the US East coast. The biotechs will get training and support, and will meet academic medical centres and biopharma companies in Boston and other cities. This initiative is supported by Innovation Norway’s Global Growth programme.

Another new initiative takes on academic innovation. More good ideas from academia should make it into patents, start-ups and investment opportunities for industry partners.

– Stanford University has a programme called SPARK. We are working with Norwegian partners, including The University of Oslo Life Science and The Norwegian Inflammation Network (NORIN), on implementing a Norwegian SPARK-programme. This will be part of the global SPARK-network, and we are already building a European node together with Berlin and Finland, Jutta Heix says.