Unit for Bioentrepreneurship – Hanna Jansson's group

Unit for Bioentrepreneurship, UBE, conducts research on and education in innovation and entrepreneurship. As an academic unit at KI, UBE can be considered as the first proactive link in KI:s innovation system

socket on blue wall

Members and contact

Group leader

All members of the group

About us

Research and Education in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

A two-year global Master's programme is offered at the unit together with programme elective and single subject courses. UBE is the KI node of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (an academic collaboration between KI, the Stockholm School of Economics, the Royal Institute of Technology, the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, the Royal college of Music and Stockholm University) proving interdisciplinary education.

Research on innovation and entrepreneurship at UBE aims to generate knowledge and to develop the innovation system. Examples of research projects include the KI Intellectual Property database, knowledge transfer projects, studies on the hospital's role in innovation and open innovation between industry and academia.

Vision

The vision is to challenge established ways of thinking and prepare professionals in the health industries to manage the unexpected.

Mission

Unit for Bioentrepreneurship focuses on education, development and research within the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Core goals

  • To be the first choice for students with an interest in medical and biomedical science, innovation and entrepreneurship
  • To be an influential actor within the health and biomedical innovation system

Core values

  • Entrepreneurial
  • Interdisciplinary

Strategic Initiatives

The strategic initiatives at UBE have been divided into two areas: education and research. Below you find a summary of the strategy's overall objectives.

Education

"Historically speaking, KI:s educational programmes have mainly been commissioned by public sector employers. In the future a significantly larger share of our students will be working in the private sector, both within health services and in the life science industry. All levels of our programmes must therefore be designed to prepare the students for this change. The innovation perspective and relations with the private sector must form a natural part of KI:s activities. This applies to all research and education activities in the departments, but also to the activities of the management" (Strategy 2018, Roadmap for Karolinska Institutet 2014-2018, page 24).

The main strategic educational initiatives at UBE include:

  • to deepen and formalize our extensive collaboration with industry and organizations
  • to provide mandatory modules in innovation and entrepreneurship for all undergraduate and doctoral studies
  • to make the programme elective courses available for more students
  • to develop and execute mandatory modules for teachers and doctoral student supervisors
  • to develop and offer joint web-based modules and full-time programmes in collaboration with other universities and institutes

Research

"Healthcare is undergoing rapid change and involves more and more stakeholders. Universities, the county council and municipalities are playing an increasing role in attracting students, researchers and industry to the region with the goal of creating growth and jobs. Life science is still a strong export industry for Sweden. The decline among pharmaceutical companies in the Swedish arena requires new investments" A summary of Strategy 2018, Roadmap for Karolinska Institutet 2014-2018).

"Collaboration with the private sector has a great potential to pool resources within specific areas, gain access to a broad skills set and resource base, and to apply research results more quickly. Correctly managed, this collaboration is very valuable and should be reinforced" (Strategy 2018, Roadmap for Karolinska Institutet 2014-2018, page 25).

The main strategic research initiatives at UBE include

  • to systematically interact with relevant actors in society, both nationally and internationally, such as stakeholders in the innovation system and external decision makers (including the political system)
  • to publish scientific articles in high impact journals
  • to aim for a professorship in innovation and entrepreneurship
  • to expand the research on entrepreneurial learning activities at a medical university

Education

The education is aiming at different target groups, from undergraduate students, to PhD candidates, researchers, clinicians and teachers. The pedagogic model at UBE is student-centred and based on "entrepreneurial learning" to create conditions for creativity, reflection and initiative in teaching. Lectures are often held by external experts with diverse backgrounds and serve as inspiration and a source to discussion. Theoretical knowledge is obtained through literature studies and applied through practical work such as workshops, case exercises and projects, often in groups.

Master's Programme in Bioentrepreneurship

The Master's Programme in Bioentrepreneurship (MBE) is a 120 higher education credits programme that provide the foundation needed for future leaders in industry, investment companies or other organisations in the biomedical field. In the rapidly developing life science industry, there is an urgent need for people who combine business knowledge with the understanding of science and technology. Focus on real life issues, cases and internships gives you experience and networks that will enhance your future career. As a bioentrepreneur you will help bridge the gap between research and the public and private sectors.

Programme presentation and application

Information about project placements for students

From a student perspective - Studying and living in Sweden

Freestanding and programme elective courses 

Digital Health from an Entrepreneurship Perspective

The course is aimed at students in all of KI:s undergraduate programmes (a minimum of 120 credits and proficiency in English equivalent to English B/English 6.), with an interest in analyzing the area of digital health from an entrepreneurship perspective. The course aims to enable students to lead entrepreneurial projects in digital health by navigating context specific challenges and opportunities.

UBE is the KI competence centre within SSES (Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship)

All SSES courses are recognized as “Programöverskridande valbara kurser” at KI. If you want to participate just ensure you have an approval from your program councellor and contact us no later than 4 weeks before the course starts. If you are a PhD student and would like to participate in our courses, please contact Liisa Olsson, liisa.olsson@ki.se.

We are also very happy to be able to offer KI undergraduate and postgraduate students different interesting courses in collaboration with the other SSES schools. All of the courses are open to students from Karolinska Institutet, KTH, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm University, Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design) and KMH Kungliga Musikhögskolan (Royal College of Music).

The following courses are offered within the framework of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship.

Core courses - The venture creation process

Cross-disciplinary projects are a major part of the courses.

Context courses

Offers the opportunity to explore venture creation in specific areas.

Skills courses

Practical techniques covering a variety of skill sets.

Doctoral education

We have one PhD course and School of health innovation together with the University of Oslo.

School of Health Innovation

The aim of this course is to equip the healthcare and life science researchers with tools and knowledge to innovate services for patients, create new companies with their research ideas, or bring their research ideas and talent into existing companies.

Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Research 4,5 Credits

Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Research is a course divided into three modules. The first module begins with an introduction to entrepreneurship, what it is and how it can be used in the doctoral education. The doctoral students are then given a number of practical tools to identify intellectual assets within daily work to use in a minor innovation projects based on their own research. The second module begins with an introduction to prototyping using the design thinking approach. The doctoral students are then given a number of business tools to develop a business opportunity, stemming from their research, into a business model. The last module begins with an introduction to product road map followed by a comprehensive business plan. The doctoral students are then given a number of practical business tools to write and test a complete business plan of the developed idea.

Course syllabus

Application

Applications for undergraduate students

NB. Important information regarding universityadmissions.se: applicants from the EU/EEA area can also contact KI:s Admissions Office for further information on how to apply.

Requirements, fees, selection, FAQ

Applications for doctoral students and postdocs

As a doctoral student you apply for courses online using the course catalogue for doctoral studies. If the course catalogue is closed for application, please contact Liisa Olsson to know if there are any vacancies.

Application process Co-up lab incubation programme

Students, undergraduate students and doctoral student are welcome to apply to the Co-up lab incubation programme. The Co-up lab events will also be open to researchers, healthcare professionals and general public. Since the focus for the incubation programme is development of ideas, testing of prototypes and packaging of concept, the selection of participants is crucial.

Student requirements

Selection criteria are set up to enroll students who are interested, have ideas, interdisciplinary and international backgrounds:

  1. Well formulated interest and ambition
  2. Well formulated idea and/or challenge area
  3. Documented experience from previous education (e.g. Innovation days or Summer schools)
  4. Educational background
  5. Country

Research

A wide range of methodologies are applied including cases studies, network analysis, patent analysis, bibliometrics, interviews and surveys. The focus of research are different actors in the Life Sciences Industry, e.g. companies, universities, venture capital firms, governmental organizations and entrepreneurs, both on a national and an international level.

Areas of research at UBE

Innovation, Innometrics and Intellectual Property Management

CLEOS – AI Technology Project with Focus on Patient Medical History

Doctoral theses

2020 External collaborations in multinational pharmaceutical companies - Francesca Bignami

2017 Exploring connectivity : invention, innovation and knowledge transfer in the university-industry interface - Charlotta Dahlborg

2017 Beyond bean counting : using patent information to investigate inventive productivity in academia - Danielle Lewensohn

2011 European knowledge transfer reflected by research collaboration and patent citations indicators - Pauline Mattsson