Explore the Cluster

The Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science Cluster – Capital of Life is one of the world’s most dynamic life science ecosystems, where healthcare, academia and industry collaborate to conduct internationally top-tier research and work together to translate research into solutions that improve people’s lives and their health. 

This is where world-leading hospitals, research environments, start-ups and global companies come together in a powerful collaboration that drives the development of new discoveries, pharmaceuticals and medtech. 

In June 2024, leading actors in the Stockholm-Uppsala region agreed on a joint memorandum of understanding to strengthen the cluster by means of greater collaboration, more efficient use of resources and clearer international positioning – with the aim of becoming one of the world’s leading life science clusters. 

Capital of Life offers a complete ecosystem for research, innovation and growth in life science. Here, there is a superb triple helix environment for collaboration between academia, industry and the public sector. In the Stockholm-Uppsala region, world-leading actors from the entire value chain – from pure research and clinical studies to healthcare and commercialisation – come together. 

Capital of Life has: 

• Five world-class universities in life science: Karolinska Institutet, KTH, Stockholm University, Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) 
• A strong international talent pool  
• Leading research infrastructure and advanced technological expertise  
• Europe’s leading innovation environment where ideas can rapidly be tested and scaled up  
• Top-ranking healthcare with close research links  
• Unique opportunities to work with health data and precision medicine  
• More than a thousand life science companies from start-ups to global actors.

On top of this, the Stockholm-Uppsala region offers excellent quality of life with nature on the doorstep, good transport links and a unique work-life balance. All this makes Capital of Life an attractive location for new start-ups and investment, not to mention international talent and skills.  

Capital of Life’s goal is to develop the Stockholm-Uppsala region into one of the world’s foremost life science clusters through long-term, strategic collaboration.  

This will be achieved by building further on our area of strength, triple helix collaboration; in other words, more synergies, improved knowledge exchange and more efficient use of the combined expertise and resources of the Stockholm-Uppsala region, while more clearly profiling our strengths internationally to attract talent, investment and collaboration. In this way, Capital of Life will take on a leading role in the EU to become an engine for science and competitiveness.  

Capital of Life enables actors in academia, business and the public sector to work in different groupings to achieve research and innovation excellence, increase growth and improve patient benefit.  

Capital of Life has unique breadth and excellence in life science, where solid research, advanced healthcare and an innovation-driven business community all work hand in hand. The strength of the cluster lies in the combination of world-leading expertise, access to data and an integrated environment that nurtures development every step of the way from idea to implemented solution. 

Capital of Life’s areas of strength:  

• Precision medicine and personalised healthcare  
• Advanced therapies (ATMP)  
• Medical imaging  
• Bioinformatics and data-driven research, -omics
• Robust clinical studies and patient-oriented research  
• Medtech  
• Biotech
• Access to extensive health data and digital infrastructure  
• Close interaction between academia, healthcare and industry  
• Entire value chain from research to commercialisation and production  
• Strong skills provision and international attractiveness