21.12.2020

News on novel initiatives and progress of ecosystem projects were shared at the CleverHealth Network event

The CleverHealth Network ecosystem developing digital health innovations arranged a virtual networking and information sharing event in early December 2020. In the event, the participants were brought up to speed on the digital services and international collaboration in the Helsinki University Hospital (HUS). The leading clinicians, together with their technology company partners, shared the highlights of their ecosystem projects.  The participants also learned about the new teaching and research concept at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. The event continued in a panel discussion on how to advance health innovations. At the end of the event, an announcement was made on the CleverHealth Network Innovation Challenge.

Visa Honkanen, the Chief Digital Officer of HUS opened the event by introducing digital services in HUS and gave a snapshot of the CleverHealth Network, in which the product and service innovations are based on HUS’s extensive health data, top expertise of clinicians and active collaboration with companies.

Projects in CleverHealth Network making good progress

The leading clinicians and their technology company partners efficiently presented the results and goals of their respective ongoing projects. The projects touch upon various themes such as gestational diabetes, diagnostics of rare diseases, treatment of acute leukemia, home dialysis and head area imaging analytics. COVID-19 inevitably slowed down the progress of the projects this year, but recently they have taken big steps forward and are back on track. The collaboration between different stakeholders is excellent.

A new EU-funded project AICCELERATE brings smart services to health services

Suzan Ikävalko, the Research and Innovation Manager at HUS, shared the news about a new, international project focusing on smart healthcare. It has recently been granted 10 M€ from a very competitive funding call released by Horizon 2020. Out of a total of  80 applications, only four were selected for grants and one of the winning proposals was indeed the HUS-led AICCELERATE – A Smart Hospital Care Pathway Engine.

The project consortium formed by five European university hospitals, one university and ten technology companies will develop partners’ existing digital solutions further, using the engine as a toolset for AI models and robotics to improve quality of care and health outcomes. The project will be launched in early 2021. Other Finnish partners are Innofactor, Evondos and Oulu University Hospital. Innovation consulting company Spinverse was facilitating the preparations for the project.

The new campus of Metropolia University of Applied Sciences boasts an advanced infrastructure concept for healthcare

Senior Lecturer Eija Raussi-Lehto from Metropolia was telling about the new facilities, located in Myllypuro, Helsinki. The ultramodern campus offers an advanced infrastructure enabling teaching, research and product development for healthcare and wellbeing. The environment is unique even from an international perspective and offers a simulation platform for carer-patient interaction to test, pilot and validate various phases in product or service development. The Metropolia campus aims to offer a seamless testbed for healthcare and wellbeing  research and development activities at HUS.

Panelists discussed the efficient and cost-effective use of health data

The panelists provided interesting insights into the ways on how we could accelerate Finnish health tech innovations and their access to international markets —  these topics are also important to the CleverHealth ecosystem. The panel discussion, moderated by Markku Heino from Spinverse, was attended by Varian’s Jani Ahonala, who joined in from Silicon Valley, Minna Hendolin from Business Finland, Sanna Lauslahti from Pharma Industry Finland and Saara Hassinen from Healthtech Finland.

Innovation Challenge in search of new health tech innovations and development partners

CleverHealth Network will launch at the beginning of year 2021 an Innovation Challenge, which is used to look for new project ideas that meet the identified needs. The challenge campaign aims to find ideas also outside the current network and encourage new partners to join in the collaboration. Stay tuned for more information next year!  

Project Director Mirka Tammi was very pleased with the event. She concluded: ”It is great to notice that the topic has gained such wide interest with a good number of over 120 participants joining online! CleverHealth Network has progressed well and next year, we will further increase collaboration with stakeholder both inside and outside Finland.”

More information: 

Mirka Tammi, Project Director, mirka.tammi(at)hus.fi
Markku Heino, Principal Consultant, markku.heino(at)spinverse.com

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