Argentinian life science startup praises international incubator program based in Umeå

Brian Reznik from Argentina was one of the first participants of a new international incubator program hosted by Umeå Biotech Incubator (UBI) that is aimed at helping life science startups.
“We received a lot of help from UBI - among other things regarding interviews and validation. They really helped us navigate our way through our challenges”, he says.

UBI's new international incubator program, which was launched in the autumn of 2022, is a pre-incubator program providing business coaching to startups and innovators to help them identify needs and assess markets and possible competition.
Brian Reznik, who runs a startup in Argentina working with gene therapy companies, was looking for an incubator to help his company grow.

“We knew right from the start that we were creating a global company. That’s why we started looking for accelerator and incubator programs located all over the world and stumbled upon UBI”, he says.

He got in touch with UBI's business coaches Pia Keyser and Tobias Tovedal, who he quickly formed a strong connection with.

“That was the best thing about the program. They were very perceptive and understood what we are trying to achieve and what our challenges were. They gave us a lot of great advice”, says Brian Reznik.

He didn’t think the time difference between Sweden and Argentina posed a problem.

“No, it worked perfectly OK. Unlike most countries in the world, in Argentina we have time differences so we are used to working that way”, says Brian Reznik.

International demand for the excellence of UBI

UBI has received countless requests over the years from international innovators and startups. It is this demand for UBI's excellence in business development and life science that forms the basis of its international incubator program.

“Many startup companies and projects fail when they develop a new product or service. The biggest cause of failure is insufficient knowledge of market needs, which leads to wasting both time and money. It’s here we can help, both in Sweden and internationally. We strive to be one of the world's best incubators - which means we need to explore global possibilities too”, says Jennie Ekbech, CEO at UBI, and continues:

“By being active internationally we draw more attention to Umeå, both with regards to companies and potential workforces. We also have the support of Umeå University, which creates great opportunities for people who want to move here. Umeå is an amazing city in general but is destined to become a fantastic city for life science in particular. We are already well on our way”!

Second round this Autumn

Jennie Ekbeck believes the international program helps UBI broaden its network, and that program participants also make many new contacts because of UBI.

Brian Reznik agrees. “We have definitely expanded our network thanks to UBI”, he says.

The second round of the international incubator program is scheduled for September, and Jennie Ekbeck and her colleagues at UBI are hoping for lots of new applications.

“We are extremely good at what we do in Umeå, and we should never limit ourselves geographically. Collaborating across international borders is very enriching”, she says.

Read more about the international program

You can apply to the international incubator program by following this link.
Read more about the program here.