Anders Fogelberg, BICO’s New CEO, Talks About His New Role at the Global Life Science Company

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BICO has grown from a Gothenburg-based startup, where knowledge and entrepreneurship from the city’s university environments came together, into an international life science group with customers and partners around the world. Anders Fogelberg is now taking over as CEO and President after serving as CCO since 2024. In an interview with GU Ventures, he talks about BICO’s next phase, how AI is transforming research, the importance of Gothenburg’s life science ecosystem and why the early support for its subsidiary CELLINK played an important role in the company’s development.

Read this article in Swedish here.

For Anders Fogelberg, the new role means both taking on new responsibilities and having the opportunity to continue an innovation journey he already knows well. He has been part of BICO’s Group Management since 2024 as Chief Commercial Officer and has worked closely with both the organisation and the company’s customers during that time.

– Working at BICO means being part of an incredibly exciting journey, where we develop groundbreaking solutions that help our customers in the development of new treatments. What I look forward to most is continuing this innovation journey together with our teams and making a real difference in medical research.

His experience from the commercial role has also given him a clear view of what will be important as BICO moves forward.

– Over the past few years, I have seen the tremendous expertise and innovative capacity that exists within the organisation. I have also gained insights into our customers’ needs, our markets and how we can create long-term value by combining innovation with a strong commercial focus.

"I believe that the support from GU Ventures and other investors at an early stage was crucial in enabling the company to develop and take important steps forward." - Anders Fogelberg, CEO of BICO.

Getting closer to the customer in BICO’s next phase

BICO is now entering a new phase of development with an increased focus on commercialisation, customer engagement and profitable growth. For Anders, this means, among other things, getting even closer to the researchers, laboratories and companies using the Group’s technologies.

– It means a clear shift towards an even more customer-centric approach, where we strengthen our processes, increase the pace of execution and ensure that our products and services create tangible value in our customers’ workflows. We will prioritise profitable growth and focus on the areas of the business where we have the strongest market position and the best opportunities to scale.

At the same time, the life science industry is changing rapidly. Automation, increasingly advanced data analysis and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities to make research and development more efficient – and Anders sees significant opportunities for BICO in this development.

– The life science industry is in a dynamic phase where the need for more efficient, reproducible and data-driven research processes continues to grow. What is happening in biology today, for example, is revolutionary, with AI enhancing virtually all areas of research.

BICO has built its business around technologies that help researchers develop and streamline laboratory processes. Looking ahead, Anders believes that the connection between instruments, software and data will become increasingly important.

– What will have the greatest impact is integrated workflows where instruments, software and data are connected. Researchers will be able to work more reproducibly and make faster decisions based on real-time data. AI will, of course, play a central role in optimising experiments, predicting outcomes and reducing the need for certain manual tasks. This saves time and improves the quality of research.

Gothenburg as a breeding ground for life science innovation

BICO’s history is also closely connected to Gothenburg. Anders himself studied at the University of Gothenburg and has worked at several Gothenburg-based companies. He describes the region’s combination of academia, entrepreneurship and industry as an important part of the environment in which new life science companies can emerge and grow.

– Gothenburg has developed a strong life science ecosystem, with leading universities, research institutes, entrepreneurs and established companies working together to drive innovation forward. At BICO and our subsidiary CELLINK, we have seen first-hand how important the life science cluster is, as we have gone from a technical idea in a university environment to today’s established company with customers and partners in 65 countries.

He believes that the interaction between research and industry will become even more important as new technologies are developed into solutions that can be put into practical use.

– Many of the greatest scientific advances take place through close interaction between research and industry, and I believe this type of collaboration will become even more important in the future as we address complex challenges in health and medicine.

GU Ventures became involved early in CELLINK’s journey

For GU Ventures, the relationship with the team behind CELLINK began at a very early stage. Contact with the founding team was established before the company was formed through the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. During the first years, GU Ventures contributed through investments, ownership, incubator support and board involvement, among other things.

Since then, the journey has taken the company from a young Gothenburg-based business focused on 3D bioprinting to today’s BICO. Looking back, Anders sees the early support as an important part of the company’s development.

– The journey shows what is possible when entrepreneurship, innovation and a clear purpose come together. I believe that the support from GU Ventures and other investors at an early stage was crucial in enabling the company to develop and take important steps forward.

For GU Ventures, BICO’s development is also an example of what can happen when ideas and expertise from university environments are combined with entrepreneurship, capital and long-term company building.

Looking ahead

When Anders looks a few years into the future, the ambition is not only for BICO to continue developing its business. He repeatedly returns to the customers, the research and the people within the organisation, and to ensuring that the technology ultimately contributes to something greater.

– A few years from now, I want us to be able to look back on a period in which we focused on creating clear value for our customers and helped them accelerate innovations that contribute to a higher quality of life. At the same time, as a company, we need to have improved our profitability and created long-term value for our shareholders.

Equally important is the kind of organisation that is built along the way.

– I want my colleagues to thrive and feel that we are making a difference, and I want our culture to be characterised by a strong customer focus, innovative capacity and collaboration. Only then can we make a real difference.

BICO Group, formerly CELLINK, was founded in Gothenburg and has grown from a pioneering company in 3D bioprinting into an international life science group. CELLINK continues to operate as part of BICO and specialises in 3D bioprinting and bioinks. The technology on which CELLINK was founded has its research roots at Chalmers University of Technology, where research into bioinks was conducted before the company was established.

Facts about BICO/CELLINK

BICO offers a global portfolio of innovative brands that combine automation, intelligence and data to enable scientific discoveries within pharma and biotechnology. With more than 53,600 instruments installed across more than 65 countries, BICO’s products, software and solutions are used in more than 3,500 laboratories, including the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, and have been cited in more than 13,000 publications. BICO strives to enable life science laboratories to accelerate discoveries that transform lives. BICO is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap under the ticker BICO.

For more information, please visit: https://bico.com/