A broad approach to life science and health tech enables new value chain networks and an ecosystem that spans a broader scope. This supports innovation and contributes to solving the system level challenges that our societies are experiencing.
The high quality of Nordic data is a competitive advantage internationally and is an enabler for the Nordic region to take lead in personalized and health care services. Nordic collaboration about sharing data for innovative companies would benefit ecosystems across borders. Building on existing Nordic collaboration, also across sectors, is important to optimize the impact of the collaboration.
The challenge
Together Nordic countries need to ensure that Nordic healthcare systems and the Nordic welfare model meet the challenges of changing demographics. The safe and secure use of health data has the potential to position the Nordics as a leading region for health innovation.
The objective
The program is one of eight initiatives launched by the five Nordic ministers of trade and industry. The initiatives represent a determined advance towards a stronger and more sustainable Nordic region and support the vision for the Nordic region to be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The aim is to strengthen the Nordic companies' opportunities in the field of life science and health technology to create societal benefit and new products and solutions for the citizens.
To realize this ambition Nordic health care systems need to evolve. This means focusing on a Nordic citizen perspective rather than a patient perspective. We would like to keep the Nordic citizens healthy and live long lives without necessarily “ever” becoming hospital patients. From an innovation and business policy point of view it is beneficial to highlight the concrete opportunities that a common data platform could offer both related to development of new technical solutions and the possibilities for scaling.
Nordic life science and health tech business ecosystems are crucial for understanding needs and possibilities for Nordic life science and healthcare SMEs. Access for testing of solutions is one of the common challenges for companies. Multiple testing environments, testbeds, living labs along with testing in hospitals gives better results and support the growth of innovative companies.
In relation to scaling the Nordic solutions, the program-based collaboration increases possibility to link Nordic value chains to international ecosystems and introduce solutions and businesses to potential international customers, attract international talent and investments, as well as immaterial properties.
The Nordic countries will not achieve transformative change by acting alone. A Nordic approach to life science and health tech will support and contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda and work to strengthen the ambitions of EU Green Deal. It will also allow for ecosystem partners to take part in the Horizon Europe missions.
The approach
The program is build around three project areas:
Export promotion and foreign investment: Value chain cooperation between Nordic clusters, as well as cooperation with foreign ecosystems, to attract foreign investment and competence to the Nordic region in addition to export promotion of Nordic solutions to selected markets.
Nordic Testbeds: Collaboration on testbeds by, among other things, strengthening and developing existing networks as well as developing and testing new solutions related to treatment and secondary prevention in Nordic testbeds and living labs, in treatment sites, in municipalities and in private homes.
Health Data: Build on the ongoing efforts to create better access to health data across borders in the Nordic region to accelerate Nordic, cross-sectorial collaboration in the area of secondary use of health data to make new innovative products, services and processes within the Nordic Health Tech and Life Science area and strengthen the Nordic market for these solutions.
