The Nordic countries are famous for offering world-class health care services and the welfare systems make their healthcare markets some of the best funded globally.
Healthcare and innovation enjoy a strong position in all five Nordic countries, and products and services are developed with patients and staff in the centre. Often both patients and staff are involved in the development process.
This can happen because several healthcare provider institutions across the Nordic countries, like hospitals, are offering medtech companies and entrepreneurs to test innovative solutions and prototypes in realistic settings – often referred to as test beds.
Hospital testing
Nordic Innovation is financing two projects working with hospital test beds, involving key university hospitals, innovation and cluster organisations in all the five Nordic countries.
The two projects, led by Oulu Centre for Health and Technology and Oslo Medtech, are working closely together to create a Nordic infrastructure of test beds that can be an asset for entrepreneurs by offering Nordic companies the opportunity to test innovative healthcare products and prototypes in a realistic hospital environment. Read more about the two projects:
The projects work to harmonise clinical and administrative standards and operations, and together develop a professional service for testing new and innovative healthcare products in the Nordics. Their ambition is to create a “one point entry” to leading test beds in the Nordic region through cooperation.
The projects work to strengthen the Nordic healthcare ecosystem, and are an integral part of Nordic Innovation’s initiative on making the region world-leading in developing innovative health and welfare solutions. Here, test facilities and test beds play an important part.
Presented in Stuttgart 5 April
This approach to testing and innovation should interest international medtech companies and investors looking to expand.
At the Medtec Europe conference 5 April in Stuttgart, the project managers from both test beds projects talked about the opportunities in the Nordic health care markets together with Nordic Innovation at a breakfast meeting from 08:30 to 11:00.
Read more about the breakfast meeting and find the agenda here.
“This event offers a unique opportunity for dialogue with an international audience. We will highlight the positive innovation environment in the Nordic region and hope to build up partnerships with new industry partners”, says Kalevi Virta, who is leading the Nordic Test Beds project.
