BIO-RED (Building Interregional Opportunities for Digital and Green Innovation in Red Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals) is a European project connecting 11 partners across seven regions in Bulgaria, France, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Denmark and Sweden, working to strengthen regional innovation ecosystems in red biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

As part of this initiative, STUNS is organising the Swedish leg of the BIO-RED Cross-Regional Hackathons — the third stage of a four-stage innovation pathway that takes regional challenges from problem identification all the way to market-ready business cases. The Hackathon builds directly on insights gathered through earlier Regional Focus Groups and Thematic Labs.

Theme: Translational Biomanufacturing — From Discovery Infrastructure to Scalable Production.

This year’s Swedish Hackathon will bring together researchers, entrepreneurs, industry representatives, public sector actors and civil society to design actionable, investment-ready business cases addressing how discovery-stage infrastructure in biomanufacturing can be translated into scalable, market-ready production.

What to expect

This is an in-person event. Interregional, multidisciplinary teams of 4–5 participants will work together through structured bilateral matchmaking, challenge framing, and guided team work sessions — covering everything from the proposed solution and value proposition to partnership models, viability, funding routes and roadmap. Domain experts will be on hand throughout to provide technical, regulatory and business input. Each team will pitch its business case (10-minute pitch, 5-minute Q&A) to an international jury, and the strongest cases will advance to the Inter-Regional Final Pitch Session on 26 October 2026, with the top 10 business cases across all seven regions selected for the BIO-RED Biotech & Pharma Accelerator Programme.

Who can take part

We welcome applicants from all four strands of the quadruple helix: academia and research, industry, government and public authorities, and civil society — including research centres, universities, large enterprises, SMEs, startups, hospitals/clinical partners, science parks and bioincubators, cluster organisations, public bodies, and development agencies. No prior hackathon experience is required — what matters most is genuine motivation to contribute and a good command of English, since all sessions and materials are in English.

Financial support for travel, accommodation and subsistence may be available for participants, subject to approval and available budget.

How to register

Please note that this is an expression of interest and that you are not guaranteed a spot.  Participation will be confirmed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Deadline to register your interest: September 11th