Nordic Life Science 1
INTERVIEW // LEIF JOHANSSON “We should double the
government’s R&D funding from 1% to 2% of GDP” Successful businessman and former chairman of AstraZeneca, Leif Johansson, has accumulated vast experience and knowledge about international competition, leadership, business development, and entrepreneurship, not least when it comes to science-driven industries like the life science industry. Exclusively for Nordic Life Science, he shares his views on the current global financial and geopolitical landscape, Sweden as a brand, and how we can help the next wave of Nordic startups succeed. T E X T B Y G U S T AV C EDER W HAT DID IT MEAN to be a global citizen in 1968, in 2000, in 2010, and now in 2025, and what has changed most? “In 1968 we lived in a clearly divided world. West vs East and the Cold War. Europe wasn’t so accessible to Sweden. In 2000 we had joined the European Union (EU), and of course, globalization was very much the talk of the day. As companies, we were able to both visit and develop businesses in China, countries like India, and the whole of South America. Most notably perhaps, as a member of the EU, we were able to develop business in the entire greater Europe, including Russia.” “We’re now in a unique situation where much of the forever globalization trend has stagnated, to say the least. Perhaps we are returning to a more regionalized world. For most companies that doesn't mean that they will be developing regionalized products but that they will be manufacturing them in different regions rather than being able to supply a really global supply chain. In many ways, really global supply chains are broken, but this is hopefully not true of strategic product development.” How would you describe Sweden as a brand today versus around the year 2000? “In my view Sweden has always been a good brand but it has changed over the years. In the sixties and before 2000 I think we were viewed with some skepticism as a socialist country, especially in the eyes of the US. Ever since the early nineties, we have reversed that image very much into becoming an entrepreneurial and business-driven community, but most of all, a science and research-driven community. We have been able to transform many of our basic industries, like steel, shipyards, etc., and we have been able to transform them into more innovative, research-based, science-driven industries.” “On top of that, and perhaps most encouraging, we now have a young generation of entrepreneurs who are really building companies. In Gothenburg, when I grew NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG | 63