Meet Sasan Shaba, our new Director International Cooperation

Ignite Sweden’s activities are expanding and with that we need some new innovation ninjas to join our program. Sasan Shaba is our brand new Director of International Cooperation and will be responsible for scaling our matchmaking process internationally to help startups accelerate the commercialization of their solutions in other countries.

“Innovation is crucial, but if it’s not implemented and commercialized, you lose a lot of potential development and value creation for the society and therefore lose the systematic transformation that is needed. I will focus on scaling the Ignite Sweden matchmaking process internationally, supporting startups to reach international markets. I will work in close collaboration with the innovation ecosystem and the team, to continue to develop Ignite Sweden together with partners,” says Sasan.

He adds: “We live in a global world and are global citizens. We need to work together more and connect our societies globally. I believe collaboration between organizations is key to reach innovation and achieve a sustainable society. I want to contribute to that idea.” 

Sasan has been working within the Swedish innovation ecosystem for over 10 years, including different positions at incubators and science parks. He has also been an entrepreneur himself with a couple of startup journeys. Before joining Ignite, he worked for the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) supporting Swedish energy innovations to scale their solutions. 

In his opinion, the Ignite mission within the Swedish innovation ecosystem is one of the most important as it is crucial for commercializing solutions and research.

“The idea is quite easy: no customers, no business, no implementation,” says Sasan. 

Sasan strongly believes that the team is everything and is happy to join what he defines as “a driven team with a focus on qualitative deliveries and backing up each other.”

“I am impressed by the deliveries of Ignite and excited to join forces to accelerate them. In this team, nothing is impossible. With a lot of positive attitudes, forward-thinking and team players, you have the right conditions to make things happen. Team Ignite feels like coming home”.

Welcome to Team Ignite, Sasan!