The trio behind Olink Proteomics: Ulf Landegren, Professor of Molecular Medicine, Jon Heimer, current CEO, and Björn Ekström, former CEO.
Photograph: Mikael Wallerstedt, Mats Lundqvist
Ulf Landegren, Björn Ekström and Jon Heimer, the key figures behind the successful biotech company Olink Proteomics, are the first recipients of Uppsala University's newly established innovation and entrepreneurship prize.
"The prize is an excellent way to draw attention to the strong tradition of utilisation and entrepreneurial initiative that exists at Uppsala University. This year's award winners and their achievements are good examples of how research benefits business and society in general," says Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt.
The award citation reads:
The first recipients of Uppsala University's innovation and entrepreneurship prize act in the spirit of the University "for a better world", thereby personifying the University as a force for innovation. Ulf Landegren, Björn Ekström and Jon Heimer receive the 2022 Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award for their outstanding entrepreneurial achievements, which have combined to transform world-leading research at Uppsala University into the successful biotech company Olink Proteomics. The story of Olink serves as a striking illustration of the importance of being able to deploy different skills and experiences in different phases of the development of a company to generate great benefit to customers and society worldwide.
Annica Hulth
Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award
- The recipient of the Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award will be a person or persons who have made a crucial contribution to the successful commercialisation or implementation of a discovery or innovation based on research or education at Uppsala University. The recipient will have a proven ability to successfully implement an idea in a viable enterprise, and their entrepreneurial achievement will have contributed to the development of our society.
- The award was established in 2021 by the Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award Foundation, which seeks to raise the visibility of the University's entrepreneurial culture. The prize of SEK 500,000 is made possible by generous donations from the ten founders of the foundation.
