Nordic Life Science 1
HIGHLIGHTS // NLSDAYS N ORDIC LIFE SCIENCE DAYS (
NLSDays) is the largest life science partnering event in the Nordics, and every year since 2013 it has gathered Nordic and international life science experts under one roof to generate business opportunities and learn about some of the latest trends in the industry. “This year’s NLSDays has been a manifestation of the power of innovation, partnership, and collaboration that makes the Nordic life science wonder a global success story,” stated Jessica Martinsson, CEO of SwedenBIO, after the event. Vibrant exhibition area NLSDays 2024 had more than 1,400 delegate registrations, more than 130 exhibitors, more than 80 sponsors, and more than 120 presenters and speakers from more than 30 different countries. The vibrant exhibition area included Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. In our opinion, the exhibition area was better organized this year, with smaller clusters of booths providing a more accessible and roomier space. This made it easier to access and explore the different exhibitors. What people said about NLSDays We also asked a few of the attendees about their impressions and reasons for attending. It was the first time at NLSDays for the CEO of the Finnish Drug Discovery Center, Maarit Merla, and she said it was a good-sized event and that the partnering and the program provided a nice combination. “Which is something that I always look for – not only the partnering but I also look at the most interesting presentations as well,” she said. “I think this is a place where the Nordic players in the industry meet, more so than in other events. I like that fact, that this is a get-together of the Nordics. Because there are lots of similarities between our countries and in the structures that we have, so that’s also one of the main reasons to be here,” she said. Merla was also at the event to make connections. “The Finnish Drug Discovery Center only invests in Finnish innovation, so that’s not what I’m looking for here. I’m looking for the VC connections, the pharma connections, and also similar drug discovery center structures that I know exist in many different countries. What do they see as opportunities Maarit Merla also participated in one of the super sessions at NLSDays: Pioneering Innovation: Building Biotech Startups From the Ground Up. Here, to the left, together with Audrey Cacaly, Life Science Venture Capital Principal, Forbion, and Marjo Puumalainen, Program Director, NLSDays. and challenges, and how can I benchmark against them? I’m also looking for a select number of CROs that might be super useful for us going forward, when we work with our companies.” S he added that the proximity of NLSDays is good. “It’s easier to get here than to JP Morgan for example, which is a little bit more for the later-stage companies anyways. So I think this is an easy-access way to connect to people in the industry. It’s super valuable to have those connections, even if you don’t need them right now, you might need them down the line.” We also spoke to Erik Haeffler, CEO of Apotek Produktion & Laboratorier (APL), who had a booth at the event. “Every year, there are more and more people you know. These spontaneous contacts and discussions that you didn’t plan to have, but which still lead to: “well, we’ll follow up on this, and I’ll make sure to contact this person” – those kinds of interactions happen quite a lot during these days, which I think is very valuable,” he said. Haeffler is also very happy with the outcome of the event. “We’ve had more traffic in APL’s booth, we’ve had more meetings than we had last year, and I also think we've had better quality meetings. This is also a result of our own preparations of course, so that we know why we’re here and who we are going to meet,” he concluded. NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG | 83 PHOTO CAMILLE SONALLY