Akademiska Hus opens co-working facility on the Solna Campus  

A Working Lab Innomedicum at Nanna Svartz väg 2 in Solna contains flexible workplaces, private offices, labs, meeting rooms, makerspace and event venues for operations that want to contribute to better health for everyone. Because researchers, students and businesses share these spaces, the almost 5,000 square-metre facility serves as an important bridge between research and industry where unique opportunities for collaboration, growth and development arise.    

“There is currently demand for smaller offices and laboratory facilities, where people can meet in new, flexible forms – both from companies already established in the area and others who want to come here because of its proximity to Karolinska Institutet and other life science companies. In campus-based environments like A Working Lab Innomedicum, we provide an opportunity for the comeback of the physical encounter, and encourage people to grow and become more innovative, effective and inspired together,” says Ulf Däversjö, Head of Innovation and Sustainable Development at Akademiska Hus.  

Strong interest

A Working Lab Innomedicum will open in May, when construction of the premises is completed. But interest in renting co-working space is already strong. A total of 60 new members will move into the new environment when it opens. The opportunity to rent lab space has also proven to be extremely attractive to small businesses. By sharing laboratory facilities and instruments in the same way as office space in the co-working section, completely new opportunities become available to even more participants in the industry. The businesses gain access to environments adapted to their needs and can keep down costs.

Along with KI Holding and KI Innovations, which are also co-creators and are physically based in the building, A Working Lab Innomedicum will be a completely new meeting place and community for innovation in the field of life science in Sweden.

“The mix of innovation office, incubator, researchers, students and companies make us a unique life science hub. By offering both office space and lab facilities, participating operations can grow and develop. We hope that A Working Lab Innomedicum will become an important innovation centre in medicine and the life sciences,” says Lilian Wikström, CEO of KI Innovations. 

 “A Working Lab – Innomedicum will be a completely new platform for collaboration between industry, academia and society. “We see this as a key project for the development of the entire Solna Campus, which will also create great value for Karolinska Institutet,” says Hans Möller, CEO of KI Holding.  

About A Working Lab – a national concept  

A Working Lab is Akademiska Hus’ national concept for co-working, makerspace, short contracts, Learning Lab and other flexible meeting places. This service offering creates a setting in which completely new ways of researching, working and studying can thrive in the property company’s campus-based premises. Several initiatives are currently underway around the country, at different stages and under development in various ways. In the autumn of 2019, A Working Lab – Johanneberg Science Park opened at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. In March this year, A Working Lab Universum opened in Umeå.   

Membership provides access to all A Working Lab sites around the country. Together the different environments form a nationwide network that opens and binds together Sweden’s campuses, where everything from expertise and experience to appointment systems and development costs are shared. For example, members could easily work at A Working Lab in Umeå one day, even if their usual workplace is in Stockholm.   

About the Solna Campus

The Solna Campus is a key component of the regional life science cluster and the growing Hagastaden neighbourhood, which will link Stockholm and Solna and create a living neighbourhood and research environment. When Hagastaden is completed there will be more than 6,000 new homes and about 50,000 workplaces. Solnavägen, which links the campus on one side with the university hospital on the other, is being transformed into a city street, since the road will no longer be used as a major thoroughfare for hazardous goods. This allows for new mixed urban development along the street close to the Solna Campus. Public transportation in the area is also being expanded. Citybanan (the City Line), with the station at Odenplan, opened in 2017. A new underground line from Odenplan to Arenastaden with a station in Hagastaden and one of the exits at Karolinska Institutet, has been approved and will preliminarily be completed in 2024.  

• Campus development
• Collaboration
• A Working Lab