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Words by Inger Svenonius on the new CT-lab

On Friday 29 October, we inaugurated our new CT laboratory at BioClinicum, adjacent to Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. In addition to a tour of the laboratory and an ensuing reception, several speeches were given on the significance of the new CT laboratory. The following is an excerpt from the speech given by Irene Svenonius Irene Svenonius, regional chair for finance, Region Stockholm:

“We save people’s lives, just as Staffan Holmin says, using new technology the scope of application for which we can perhaps only imagine today. Now that you’re able to use it to help patients and develop it further, it will make a great difference, just as you have done with your treatment of stroke patients. Until now, who could have dreamed of this? It is quite astonishing and something else that you have developed together: Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital and KTH. This is a dream partnership and, if I may say so as regional chair for finance at Region Stockholm, I am extremely proud that we as a region have committed to cofinancing MedTechLabs.

I can say that, in my opinion, every krona has been well spent; we are talking about the future of our patients. That said, I shall not disguise the fact that we have major strategic plans for the future of Hagastaden and Region Stockholm as a whole, which is that we intend to become one of the five leading regions for life science research in the world.

Investments like this, and the research that Mats Danielsson and his team have conducted in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, is precisely the cutting-edge knowledge we want the region to stand for and that will carry us forward. While this leads to solutions for patients, my hope is that it will also bring new businesses and new researchers to this unique place. Here, where we in the region together with Karolinska Institutet, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, which is only a few bus stops away, have invested heavily in research infrastructure, which we of course want to come to use for the patients benefit.

So, on overall, I consider today to be a splendid example of what we wish to achieve in future.”