Thoas Fioretos – recipient of the first Lund Innovator Award
Thoas Fioretos is the first recipient of the newly established Lund Innovator Award. As a Professor and Senior Consultant in Clinical Genetics at Lund University, he is recognised for his groundbreaking work in blood cancer research, which is revolutionising diagnostics and treatment worldwide. He is also a successful entrepreneur, having co-founded the companies Qlucore, Cantargia, and Lead Biologics.
He has received a great deal of praise since winning the award and is considered an excellent choice as the first recipient. In his acceptance speech at the award ceremony at Inspira, he expressed deep gratitude towards Medicon Village for facilitating both his research and his entrepreneurship.
To learn more about this inspiring man and his work, we sat down to ask four key questions:
How is your research connected to innovation?
– My research group is working on improving diagnostics and treatment of patients diagnosed with blood cancer. In my work as a medical doctor, I face challenges that I try to solve through research, which sometimes leads to innovation. Some innovations, for example new diagnostic tests, can be made available to patients directly by implementation into healthcare. Other innovations, however, need to be further developed and commercialised to reach the patients in the end. The latter was the case when I founded Qlucore to enable precision medicine through a regulatory approved diagnostic software, and it was also true for Cantargia and Lead Biologics, which target cancer with precision therapies.
What are your three most important tips for a start-up aiming to commercialise its research?
– Within the field of medicine, always keep the patient in focus. Innovation cannot exist just for the sake of starting a company, it has to be the other way around. When you have an application that can improve patient care, commercialisation may then be required to reach the patients in the end.
– Secondly, I would advise making use of the innovation system, which offers excellent support and knowledge for both scientists and entrepreneurs. We are fortunate in Lund to have a strong ecosystem with a university with several faculties, the university hospital, LU innovation, science parks, and incubators, all within walking distance.
– Finally, build the “super team” you need to achieve the success you are striving for. With engaged and competent colleagues, management, and investors, you will be on a long and challenging journey where your endurance will be tested repeatedly, and the full competence of your team will be needed.
What will be your focus going forward?
– As a researcher and medical doctor, patients have always been my first priority, and I will continue to find ways to make ongoing improvements for their benefit. My prime focus is to continue with my research, but also to support the companies I have established in the best way. When I am asked when I will start the next company, I answer that I do not know. It all depends on whether we make new innovations in our research group.
We also asked his opinion on Medicon Village, and our reason to be …
– I am extremely grateful to the Medicon Village Life science park, to the inspiring people I have met here, and to the opportunities it has given me. The energy and dynamic environment it provides, where researchers, companies and investors can come together is truly remarkable. Medicon Village and the Mats Paulsson Foundation have indeed been very critical for my research and innovations.
About The Lund Innovator Award
The award, established by Lund University and Sparbanken Skåne, was awarded for the first time in 2025. The aim is to highlight research that has generated measurable societal benefit, and Thoas Fioretos has been honoured “for his unique ability to combine academic excellence with entrepreneurship”. The award includes a prize sum of SEK 250,000 and was presented on 10 September 2025.