It was 1971 when Ingemar Ingemarsson came to Linköping and its new university college. He was a professor of information theory and a pioneer in computer security in Sweden. Although many people had no idea about computer security in the 1970s, an increasing number of assignments came the way of Ingemar Ingemarsson and his three doctoral students at the time, Viiveke Fåk, Rolf Blom and Robert Forchheimer.
“Taxes were high, and we were advised to start a business. The minimum allowed share capital was SEK 5,000 so we invested SEK 1,250 each. I had to take the money out of the household budget, and my wife was a bit sceptical,” recalls Ingemar Ingemarsson.
The company was founded in 1978 and was named Sectra (SECure TRAnsmission). They needed a CEO and Ingemar Ingemarsson thought it was obvious that Viiveke Fåk, as the only woman, should have the role. After a time, Rolf Blom left Sectra to start working at Ericsson, while the other three continued to take on assignments alongside their research.
A “wonderful night” was a turning point
A little later, Jan-Olof Brüer started working for Sectra. He was also one of Ingemar’s doctoral students and had double degrees in engineering and business administration. Jan-Olof Brüer brought with him a financial perspective and great ambitions for the company’s future.
“We often talk about ‘the wonderful night’. It was a board meeting that went on far into the early hours, and Jan-Olof outlined how many of us there would be and how much turnover we would have,” says Ingemar Ingemarsson.
Jan-Olof Brüer became Sectra’s first full-time employee and took over the role of CEO.
Another of Ingemar’s doctoral students was also given a decisive role in the company’s future. Torbjörn Kronander started working with programming at Sectra during his doctoral studies. After his doctoral degree, however, he wanted to work in biomedical engineering again – a focus that only existed in Linköping, and the reason for him choosing the Master of Science in Engineering programme there. Under the auspices of Sectra, he started a project for digital transfer of X-ray images.
“We started with transfers from Lindesberg to the hospital in Örebro. Previously, they had sent the X-rays by taxi, and it was quite expensive. Then more county councils became involved, and we developed the first X-ray imaging system for digital storage of images,” says Torbjörn Kronander.
The X-ray system goes worldwide
The prototype system began to be used in Mjölby in 1993 and visitors from Japan and the USA came to see how the small Swedish company had done it. As a result, Philips wanted to become a retailer of the system worldwide (except in Sweden and Norway, where Sectra was responsible). Sectra insisted on their name being visible together with Philips, which came to be of great importance when Philips later wanted to buy the entire company and Sectra said no. Philips bought a competitor instead. Törbjorn Kronander tells of it being a tough period.
"We had to lay off 40 people in Linköping but employed 40 in the USA and invested heavily in getting support and maintenance contracts for the systems already sold there. It saved us, we started growing and since then things have gone well. This is the eleventh year in a row that we have been ranked highest in terms of customer satisfaction in the USA and won the Best in KLAS award.”
Today, Sectra is active in more than 60 countries and is the market leader in several of them. Torbjörn Kronander is President and CEO and Jan-Olof Brüer is Chairman of the Board. The company’s largest area is medical technology. Cybersecurity accounts for 10–15 per cent of turnover, but this area has also grown rapidly since the war in Ukraine broke out.
Research has always been important for Sectra’s operations. When Torbjörn Kronander saw a lack of research on radiology and X-rays in Linköping, he wanted to start a centre based on a model from Harvard, where technicians, researchers and doctors sat together in the hospital and met up in the break room. He met Professor Anders Ynnerman from LiU and together they managed to persuade radiologist Anders Persson, Swedish leader in the management of 3D medical imaging, to move to Linköping. Anders Persson then established the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), which has received international acclaim for its activities.
Many LiU students are employed
Many industry-based doctoral students have divided their time between LiU and the research department at Sectra. Still more LiU students get a job at Sectra after getting their degree.
He personally meets all candidates for a final interview. Building a corporate culture is key. A rookie week is held three or four times a year at the head office in Linköping, where new employees from all over the world gather to find their place in the Sectra team.
Founders Ingemar Ingemarsson, Viiveke Fåk and Robert Forchheimer no longer play an active role in Sectra. They can all look back on successful research careers at LiU and are still major shareholders. Ingemar has used some of his shares for causes close to his heart. He has donated them to two LiU-affiliated foundations that award Sweden’s largest teaching prize and a new prize for interdisciplinarity.
“I see myself primarily as a teacher, which is why I instituted the teaching prize. And I’m proud to have taught the doctoral students who have built Sectra,” he says.
Translation: Simon Phillips
