Cross-border collaboration - fundamental to founding partner Wellspect

We sat down with Maria Lundbäck, Head of Corporate Marketing Communication, Fredrik Didriksson, Head of Chemistry and Technology Development and Eva Wahlberg, Vice President Research & Development to speak about Wellspect, the future of life science and the company's presence at GoCo Health Innovation City.

Wellspect provides high quality continence care products to people dealing with bladder and bowel concerns. The product users fall into two main categories: people with neurological injuries and others. The largest target group is in fact people who experience bladder and bowel issues caused by spinal cord injuries.

- In our daily work, we talk a lot about pee and poo, Maria Lundbäck says smiling. And we share many good laughs about it too. Providing our users with the freedom of control is what it's all about, and it's a great source of motivation to all of us.

When asked about the future, Maria, Fredrik and Eva express an interest in Big Data and how the power of data in society is affecting the life science industry. They all agree that new technology will offer new solutions to health issues, which will impact how we manage to take care of a constantly aging population going forward.

- We will need new laws and regulations to make effective use of this technology in our rather conservative healthcare system, Maria says.

Wahlberg goes on to discuss how Wellspect is affected by the difficulty to change the ways and processes of the system. As an example, she brings up the packaging for Wellspect's products that include an instruction-for-use leaflet. The leaflet is important for all first-time users, but an experienced user will just throw it away, which is regrettable from a sustainability point of view. And it goes against Wellspect's strive to remain a sustainability forerunner in the field. Wellspect would like to substitute the leaflet with a QR code, but this cannot be approved by the regulators, as some users may lack access to a computer.

- This is the conservative standpoint we struggle with today, explains Eva.

In the future, Fredrik says, we will have to find innovative and simple solutions to quickly adapt to a changing society. We need to find ways to support healthcare professionals to train care takers more efficiently. And we need a change in laws and processes to encourage a more sustainable way of working.

Maria and Eva remark that the healthcare system will have to adapt to younger generations. Future generations will demand a more accessible system, which will force the healthcare system to become more patient-focused.

As a large company operating all over the world, Wellspect Healthcare has a broad and global view of the industry. The three colleagues agree that Sweden offers a unique system of collaboration between academia and the industry, however they would like to see more engagement from politicians in life science to truly fulfill the Triple Helix we need to move forward.

- I believe we have fallen behind in that area in Sweden. We used to be a country where it was quite easy to execute clinical trials – which is not the case anymore. We simply have too few politicians involved, says Maria.

But Maria, Fredrik and Eva do, however, see a lot of strengths in the life science industry in Sweden.

- We have the competence and talent needed here in Sweden, says Fredrik, and there is a high amount of educated people available.

And they add that the collaboration between multiple companies and sectors is both important and beneficial. Which is the purpose of GoCo Health Innovation City.

As Founding Partner to the community platform GoCo Arena since 2021, Wellspect supports the culture and co-creates content for the event program. The program invites specialists, researchers, and key-note speakers to highlight relevant subjects to bring the industry together and encourage cross-border collaboration.

Wahlberg explains that Wellspect decided to join as Founding Partner for the extended visibility offered and the opportunities for cross-border collaboration within the industry. Wellspect's presence in GoCo Arena has already resulted in interesting meetings and new collaboration projects. Eva mentions a new collaboration project with AI company Eghed, which came out of a workshop at GoCo Arena in 2022.

- Our collaboration with Eghed allows us to use AI to learn and predict what will happen with our products when they age. We also use AI to develop a language model that allows us to search our own archives for information and knowledge, explains Fredrik.

- These types of meetings are exactly what we should aim for, adds Eva.

The three colleagues are excited about the idea that more companies will move into the area and participate in the collaborative culture. In their ideal world, companies that are interested in testing and reviewing Wellspect's products would move here. From that perspective, Norlandia, with their elderly care expertise as well as Essity, with their strive to challenging taboos and stigmas would be ideal collaborative partners to Wellspect.

To summarize, we asked Maria, Fredrik and Eva to explain GoCo in three words:

- Courage, Go Ahead Spirit, Collaboration, says Fredrik.

- Collaboration, Innovation, Attraction, continues Eva.

- The simple fact that it is becoming a real-life science city center is what comes to mind, and that is just amazing, concludes Maria.