Viktor Bakker on sustainability, global goals and the connection to Life Science

- Sustainability without health and healthcare is not sustainability, begins Bakker.

When we aim to solve health challenges related to an aging population, health economics, and global pandemics for example, it is incredibly important to have an infrastructure that can supply equal access to healthcare for everyone. Availability and support of infrastructure are highly prioritized areas within the life science industry which also align very well with the national goals of sustainability, Bakker explains. Specifically, these areas are related to social sustainability, and Bakker explains how many life science companies conduct projects in evolving countries to advance in both health, medicine, and sustainability.

- Today, diseases are a very large problem and the reason why a lot of people do not live full lives. In the future, the climate issue will have an even larger effect and create even more disruption in society. This will be extremely difficult to deal with, and because of this sustainability is a pressing issue within life science, says Bakker.

In the future, Bakker thinks there will be laws that demand that all products created and delivered by the life science industry must be sustainable. This can be difficult as many companies sell and create items that are disposable.

- The disposable products used in the industry today often have incredibly high demands when it comes to being hygienic and sterile. To adhere to these demands while still being reusable requires a large investment in new technology. However, companies should and are looking at it as a competitive advantage to deliver sustainable products as both employees and users of the products prefer the sustainable options, explains Bakker.

Even if you are sick and need help, Bakker believes that patients will demand a sustainable solution to their problem.

- Is it the fact that “I’m not feeling well” or the fact that “the world is not feeling well” that we must solve? How well can I feel at the expense of someone else, questions Bakker when he thinks about a future with global climate issues but without the option of sustainable healthcare.

Further, Bakker explains that if we can help small, medium-sized, and large companies in the Swedish life science industry to create and deliver sustainable products, sustainability will be an incredibly large Swedish export. This will, of course, offer all companies a global competitive advantage and it will favor Sweden as a country as well as aid in global challenges.

To succeed with this vision, it is very important with collaboration between people of different expertise in sustainability, healthcare, and life science as well as collaboration between multiple different companies.

- We have a collaboration forum with the sustainability departments at multiple large life science companies within our community. We all face the same challenges of global issues and the difficulty in interpreting laws and rules that keep changing and increasing. In this forum we help each other, work on innovative solutions, and share best practice between companies to accelerate our shared progress, says Bakker.

AstraZeneca, Wellspect HealthCare, and Mölnlycke Health Care are some of the companies represented in this forum. And when asked if other companies should be a part of the forum Bakker explains that there are plenty of brilliant companies he would like to work with. However, even more than creating larger forums he would like to see other companies creating more forums and thereby more action. If multiple forums come up with innovative solutions and means of working, these ideas could then be shared across forums which in turn would create a massive network for collaboration.

- I would love to see more of these forums, and I want it to be a given that even start-ups or smaller companies have an important voice in these discussions, comments Bakker.

Further, Bakker discussed that the field of sustainability is evolving very quickly now. It is all happening at this moment, many people and companies are taking responsibility and actions. Additionally, we are dealing with new subfields such as sustainable supply chains and biodiversity emerging. Bakker is especially excited about how the climate challenges are being handled.

- It is still a very large, important, and difficult challenge to collectively reduce our CO2e emissions. But at GoCo Health Innovation City, for example, we are doing very well. We have developed methods, we have clear goals, we work extremely hard with the issue, and we have committed suppliers which makes it a lot of fun to work with, adds Bakker.

To highlight the importance of sustainability within the industry, Bakker suspects that in five years we will have seen the first set of businesses being closed down due to the disability of adhering to sustainability demands. However, he is hopeful that these strict requirements will create an even larger need for collaboration and integration where we will help each other become as sustainable as possible. This is something he can see happening already at GoCo Health Innovation City.

- At GoCo I can see that things really are happening. We are making progress by collaborating and being brave in our actions, Bakker explains further.

When asked about his expectations of GoCo Health Innovation City, Bakker says that he is excited to see the social and collaborative culture of GoCo House start happening in the entire area. Furthermore, he expects GoCo to become a way of keeping both national and international competence here in West Sweden.

- I know this is just the beginning of GoCo and we can all expect more to come, says Bakker.

To conclude the interview Bakker shared the three keywords he associates with GoCo: Collaboration, Hot Spot, and Curiosity.