A Corporate Entrepreneurship Approach to Bioentrepreneurship Education at the Karolinska Institutet

Sweden is one of the world's most innovative countries and has a long tradition of strong life science innovations. Although Sweden has many small life science companies, there is an apparent lack in growth of these firms. A need was identified for professionals that could bridge the science and business aspects of small life science companies to help them grow. As a response to the identified need, this study will describe the start and subsequent development of a Master's program in bioentrepreneurship at Karolinska Institutet. The aim of this program is to educate and train science students to become future leaders in the life science field. The focus of the program is on corporate entrepreneurship rather than to create new business. For that reason, a large part of the program is dedicated to student-corporate alliances. This is undertaken through practical training in a company setting by addressing real business challenges.