“Sweden has what it takes to be an innovation superpower”
General Manager Roland Kurney is delighted with the environment Hagastaden creates, and he tells us about Takeda’s work, initiatives and collaborations with the Nordic countries, and shares his thoughts on synergies with other actors here.
Tell us about Takeda and the company’s background.
– Takeda has a proud heritage of more than 240 years, beginning in Japan and now spanning the globe. For over half a century, we’ve called Sweden our home—growing into one of the country’s four largest pharmaceutical companies when it comes to turnover, with about 100 colleagues who live and work all over Sweden.
– We develop innovative treatments in gastroenterology, neuroscience, rare diseases, cancer, plasma-derived products, and vaccines. Always with the same mission to make a real, positive difference in people’s lives.
– What makes our work meaningful is not just the medicines we develop, but also other innovations that we are driving in collaboration with our partners—whether it’s with researchers searching for answers, healthcare professionals caring for patients, or families facing a rare diagnosis.
What initiatives or collaborations will Takeda Sweden focus on together with the Nordic countries?
– In Sweden, a key part of our everyday work is listening, collaborating, and co-creating with partners across healthcare, academia, industry partners and others. Together, we’re striving to remove barriers to innovation and to empower patients—not just through innovative treatment options, but also through smarter, more connected healthcare solutions.
– For example, we are partner in the RISE-coordinated, Vinnova-funded project Precision Medicine in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In this project we are exploring in a cross-sector collaboration, how the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease can be personalized and improved.
– At the Nordic level, for example, we have initiated the Nordic Rare Disease Summit together with industry partners, patient organizations, and scientific partners. At the 2023 summit the then minister of health in Sweden announced the first Swedish strategy for rare disease and that summit also resulted in a Nordic Roadmap for Rare Diseases. This august marked the third occasion for the Nordic Rare Disease Summit, a testament to our long-term commitments.
Takeda has chosen Hagastaden, what synergies do you see with other actors in the cluster?
– At Takeda, we believe that good ideas—and real progress—rarely happen in isolation. That’s why Hagastaden feels like such a natural home for us. Being in the heart of this vibrant cluster puts us shoulder-to-shoulder with brilliant researchers, medical professionals, and start-ups who share our passion for innovation.
– I took up my position as General Manager of Takeda Sweden earlier this year. For me, Sweden has what it takes to be an innovation superpower. We have world-leading researchers and healthcare institutions, high-quality health data, accessible and traceable data pools such as quality registries and national health registries, a strong ambition to accelerate AI in research, proactivity in adopting the European Health Data Space, and a world-renowned tech start-up scene with low costs of innovation and intellectual property.
– At the same time, I see many obstacles to unlock Sweden’s full potential and to attract further investment. Collaboration and speed are key—when we learn how to collaborate fast and efficient across sectors within healthcare, Sweden has an opportunity to become an obvious place for investments and clinical trials. With a testbed mindset, Sweden could establish itself as a leading hub for innovation and follow-up research on new treatments. But in order to make this happen, we also need to make sure that Sweden provides fast access for patients to innovative medicines. This is an area of major concern for many pharmaceutical companies because Sweden is currently not at the forefront for innovative medicines.
– That requires long-term partnerships creating a ripple effect – more research, greater attractiveness, fast access to innovations and increased patient benefit.
– This is a vision that Takeda would like to initiate as part of this ecosystem.
What is your favourite place in Hagastaden?
– I’d say my number one place in Hagastaden is actually right outside Forskaren, in the park. I really like how mixed the crowd is there – you see students, young families with kids, people from pharma, staff from Karolinska, all sharing the same space. It creates this very open, down‑to‑earth feeling that I enjoy. On a nice day I’ll even take some of my online meetings from the park, because the atmosphere helps me think more clearly and stay relaxed.
– My second favourite spot is the presenter stage in Forskaren’s Urban Deli café. There’s always a buzz there – morning mingles around different topics, short talks, people pitching ideas. It’s a place where you naturally start conversations, build connections, and get exposed to new thinking, which for me is really important for innovation.
– And number three is, of course, the Takeda office. That’s where I get to meet all my great colleagues in person. The space itself is nice, but what really makes it one of my favourite places in Hagastaden is the feeling of being part of a great team and seeing familiar faces every day.
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