Four entrepreneurs have been named regional winners in the SKAPA Prize, Sweden’s largest innovation award, which has been presented annually for more than 30 years.
The winners were announced on earlier this month at Ideon Science Park in Lund and will represent Skåne in the national competition in Stockholm on November 12, where they have the chance to win € 45.000 (500,000 SEK).
“We have received many exciting applications of high quality from our Skåne companies. The choice fell on four entrepreneurs who have unique solutions in their fields and will be worthy representatives of Skåne innovation power in the national final,”
said Alice Larsson Witzell, business advisor, jury member for the SKAPA Prize in Skåne.
The 2026 Winners from the region
Nélida Leiva Eriksson of Ironic wins the county prize for BioHeme, a solution addressing one of the world’s largest global health challenges, iron deficiency. Using a patented, plant-based heme protein produced through precision fermentation, BioHeme enables significantly higher iron absorption while avoiding the side effects of traditional supplements. The jury highlighted the company’s strong scientific foundation, clear commercialization strategy, and secured financing as creating good conditions for global launch in both supplements and food products.
Vahid Sohrabpour of Saveggy wins for an innovative, plant-based edible coating that extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables while replacing plastic packaging. The solution addresses global food waste and, with verified sales in retail, clear scalability, and upcoming EU directives banning plastic food packaging, the jury sees major international market potential.
SKAPA Talent for Young Innovators
Annika John of Salt & Fiber is recognized for developing innovative, biodegradable textile fibers from seaweed that replace synthetic materials and reduce microplastic emissions. The solution tackles the textile industry’s major environmental challenges while benefiting the marine environment by making use of seaweed waste from beaches.
Rohon Kundu of NodeXCloud wins for an innovative solution for secure, decentralized cloud storage, where data is encrypted, fragmented, and distributed to eliminate vulnerabilities associated with centralized systems. With a strong research foundation, patented technology, and ongoing pilot projects with international customers, the jury sees significant global market potential and ambitions to establish a European standard for secure cloud storage.
