Converting Agreements into Action: Sweden-India Year of Health

Swecare had the privilege of welcoming a delegation from India organised by our longtime partner InnovatioCuris.

Region Uppsala

Highlights included a highly engaging round table discussion with key Swedish innovators at the incomparable H2 Health Hub in Stockholm and a seminar at Vitalis in Gothenburg.

Aula Medica - KI

The delegation visited Karolinska Institute and Hospital in Solna, Uppsala Region and University, Surgical Science, Sahlgrenska, AstraZeneca's BioVentureHub, and GoCo Health Innovation City during their 4-day trip.

The focus of the delegation was to explore concrete collaboration opportunities between innovators in our two countries - taking the Innovation Partnership signed by Modi and Löfven last year to the next level.











Delegates

VR at Surgical Science

• Dr Sandeep Bhalla, Director of Training, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI): leading the capacity building initiatives for Primary care physicians in chronic disease management and injuries .
• Deepali Jetley, Qwazent: Managing Partner from an all-female executive search firm with health care focus.
• Kingshuk Poddar, AIC-AMTZ Medivalley Incubation Council: a comprehensive entrepreneur incubation hub catering to convergence technologies in the field of Medtech, Nutratech and Biotech.
• Rohini Pimple, Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH): an initiative conceived to unlock the national treasure created by the top scientific research institutions in Telangana State, and to actively facilitate the process of taking their research to market.
• Rajesh R. Singh, Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Healthcare (WISH) Foundation: improving the quality of and access to primary healthcare for under-served communities in India by appropriately introducing promising healthcare innovations in the public health system.
• Sachin Gaur, InnovatioCuris: expert in cyber security and frugal innovations in health care.
• Dr VK Singh, InnovatioCuris: veteran doctor with a decades long career in the Indian military and extensive network in India.

If you were unable to join us during last week's activities and are interested in pursuing any of these contacts, please get in touch. Further information: InnoBRIDGE 2019.

Upcoming projects & activities (email Swecare if interested):

Linda Swirtun, Vinnova

• New Initiative - building a much broader and stronger platform in infection control, where as many Swedish institutions and companies as possible are engaged, establishing a Vision Zero for hospital acquired infections, similar to what has been done for road traffic accidents in Sweden and now exported to India.
• Strengthening Collaboration - reducing environmental risks from antibiotic production & sustainable solutions through building alliances. On the issue, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) suggests a multi stakeholder call for action.
• Vinnova Call - company-driven research and innovation projects (Smart Cities & Clean Energy, Digitisation & IoT). Deadline 15 August - more information.
• Incoming visit - Director of AIIMS Jodhpur 12-14 June.

Seminar at Vitalis 2019

Sweden India Year of Health 2019

Photo credit: AIIMS Jodhpur

As a kick-off to the Sweden India Year of Health 2019, Swecare was privileged to organize H.E. Lena Hallengren's first trip in her new role as Swedish Minister for Health and Social Affairs. It is a testament to the incredible commitment by both the Indian and Swedish Health Ministries to our ten-year collaboration that we managed to pack in such a high-level, well-rounded delegation in the short timespan between the conclusion of the lengthy Swedish election cycle and the start of the Indian one.

The program for the 35-strong delegation began with an internal round table for all life science companies on Friday, 22 May, morning. Given that the increased number of Swedish new companies entering the Indian market, this was an opportunity for established ones to share their experiences and for the agencies to learn about market-entry challenges. The session began with a presentation by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) Directors Dr. Mavalankar and Dr. Bhalla on the Indian health care sector, the impact of recent reforms, and their work.

Minister Hallengren presided over the India-Sweden Business Leaders' Round Table (ISBLRT) in a parallel session in the morning.

Photo credit: Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)

The two groups then got together to hold a Health Dialogue: Conference of the Sustainable Development Goals – Impact Driven Partnerships Beyond Traditional Silos in the afternoon. The session was opened by Health Secretary Preeti Sudan along with Professor Bhargava, Director-General at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The lively discussions covered topics ranging from procurement ("the Taj Mahal would never have been built with today's tender practices" - Dr. Advani) to innovation ("we cannot innovate for innovation's sake" - Vlachos). EMPE Diagnostics and AstraZeneca launched new initiatives in India with the blessing from both Ministries of Health.

Photo credit: Business Sweden India

Photo credit: Swecare

All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jodhpur were our gracious hosts over a weekend which included open and earnest discussions over collaboration opportunities, a beautiful dinner at the foot of Jodhpur's fort, and a visit to health centers for some of the group.

Topics discussed:

• Public health & infection control
• Innovation
• Skills, Competency development & Research
• HMIS, Data, Analytics & e-Health

We have follow-up meetings already planned and will keep you updated as we narrow our scope in order to focus on where Sweden can generate the most impact.

The trip ended with a bilateral meeting between Ministers Hallengren and Nadda on Monday morning. We hope to have an incoming visit from the Indian Minister later this year.

Photo credit: Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi

Thank you to all our partners in this endeavour: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi, Business Sweden India, Swedish Chamber of Commerce in India.

Special mention: Mumbai Consulate, Sweden India Business Council, Tasting India.

Our Indian counterparts: Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, AIIMS Jodhpur, CDSCO, ICMR, Indian Embassy in Sweden, Public Health Foundation of India.

2019: Planning for the Year Ahead

Sweden & India - Partners in Health

A commitment has now been made by both the Swedish Socialdepartementet and the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to make 2019 the Year of Health - #SwedenIndiaHealth2019. As we plan for the year ahead, we welcome your input as your engagement is crucial to this partnership. The focus will be on aligning Swedish Triple Helix life science actors in delivering a structured solution to common challenges in India. Concrete deliverables along the care continuum is the ultimate objective of this collaboration. Once this proof of concept yields results - increased efficiency, decreased costs, healthier community - the Indian government has expressed interest in scaling the concept to other parts of the country. The Indian Ministry suggests Jodhpur, and its new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), as the test bed for this collaboration.

This, of course, does not preclude collaborations in other parts of India and many of our partners and members have ongoing projects throughout the country. We foresee increased activities with AIIMS New Delhi, Apollo Hospitals, Public Health Foundation of India, MaxCure Group, India Institute of Technology in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, to name a few. But these will all be conducted with a view to ensure that Swedish stakeholders, despite having distinct objectives, will be moving in the same direction. Partnerships between Swedish actors is encouraged so that the momentum we have generated results in concrete (measurable) outputs.

Proposed timeline for 10-year celebrations in 2019

• January - pre-feasibility study in Jodhpur to determine scope

• 24-28 February - Swedish Ministerial visit to Delhi (and Jodhpur) in conjunction with the Global Digital Health Partnership 

• April/May - heads of Indian hospitals will be invited to Sweden for a study visit and workshop

• 21-23 May - Vitalis 2019 session to focus on AI & Innovation with an incoming health tech delegation which will visit incubators and hubs in Stockholm and Gothenburg

• September - agency and private sector workshop in India

• October/November - Indian Ministerial or Health Secretary visit to Stockholm along with the 11th Joint Working Group meeting

Other dates to keep in mind

• 5 December - 2nd Private Sector Steering Committee Meeting

• 25-27 February - BioAsia 2019 in Hyderabad

• April/May - Indian elections

• 11-12 October - InnoHEALTH 2019 in New Delhi

• The Swedish India Business Council will also be organising tech delegations so please keep an eye on their website

Calls out

• Big data and Artificial Intelligence for monitoring health status and quality of life after the cancer treatment

• 9th Call - JPIAMR Call on Diagnostics and Surveillance 2019

• Affordable & Accessible Health Care through Early Screening and Efficient Management

Focus areas

• Digital Health - non-communicable diseases, elderly care, AI, Health Tech

• Anti-Microbial Resistance - infection control, knowledge transfer, nurse training, medtech

May I please request that if you have upcoming activities, you contact us so that we can provide the necessary support both in Sweden and in India? We will be coordinating closely with the Indian Embassy in Stockholm and the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi and one of the proposed ideas is to create a quarterly newsletter highlighting events within the life science sector between our two countries which could also act as a status report so do write to us!

#ICYMI: Be sure not to miss out next time

Incredible India. Thirteen Swedish health care representative traveled to India last week - in addition to the 17-person tech delegation arranged by SIBC to Bangalore, so Swedish presence was particularly high on the sub-continent - in order to begin preparations for increased collaborations during our Jubilee year 2019. With three separate tracks focused on regional collaborations, partnerships in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and private sector opportunities, the agenda for these Mini Delegations was incredibly packed.

The delegation trip itself would not have come about without the close collaboration between Swecare Foundation, Socialdepartementet, and the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi as well as InnovatioCuris. The visibility and credibility of the delegation increase significantly when we work towards a common goal while planning these visits.

Program Overview - Track 1

The Swecare trip started with InnoHealth2018, organized by our Central Baltic Health Access partners InnovatioCuris and led by Target Market Coach, Sachin Gaur. The Swedish Ambassador to India, the inimitable Klas Molin, opened the two-day conference in Gurugram with a passionate plea to delegates to innovate together, across borders, towards a common goal. The conference's strength in fact lies attracting those who are willing to put in the time, resources, and skills to do exactly that and the B2B sessions are unparalleled in their focus on action points. Special attention was given to affordable and simple solutions, especially with regards to management of chronic disease.


The following week included study visits to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi, and Max Hospital Saket where the delegation had the honor of touring radiology, oncology, and infection control units at the leading hospitals in the country. The warm welcome we received touched the delegation and we hope to return the favor when these counterparts visit Sweden.


We also had very high-level access to two leading diagnostic brands in Delhi.
Dr Lal's National Reference Laboratory has arguably the most extensive network across India and we got to visit their state-of-the-art flagship center in Rohini. Dr Lal himself received our small delegation. This was followed up by a visit to the more specialized Mahajan Imaging where we had an intimate dialogue about premium Indian market, AI, and quality assurance.

After constructive discussions with a large team at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) cutting across a vast range of subjects from nursing to eHealth, we ended the day with a roundtable among Swedish life science companies in India, hosted by the Swedish Chamber and Business Sweden, and a reception at the Ambassador's Residence. 

Program Overview - Track 2

Socialdepartments trip started with WHO's 2nd World Conference on Access to Medical Products - Achieving the SDGs 2030, where we met the leadership at the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the inauguration. Niclas Jacobson, Socialdepartementet, spoke on Sweden's commitment to these issues and Pavan Aslapuram, EMPE Diagnostics, presented the case for Swedish colloborative structures.

The first day ended with a Team Sweden dinner hosted by our Ministry, where we got a chance to realign our objectives for the week and the year ahead.

Representatives from Socialdepartementet, Embassy of Sweden - Economic Affairs, Swecare, eHälsomyndigheten, Business Sweden, and Forte traveled to Jodhpur on the second day, along with Joint Secretary Sunil Sharma, to conduct a site visit to the AIIMS Jodhpur. The group were treated to dinner by the Indian Ministry at the foot of the Jodhpur Fort. A visit was also made to two Health and Wellness Centers which Sweden plans to 'adopt' in order to test, and eventually showcase, Swedish solutions in the Indian context. We were very happy to see Elekta, Sectra, and Hemocue products already in use in Jodhpur.

The delegation returned to Delhi to join the others at the Roundtable and Reception at the Embassy. And with this renewed energy and commitment, we entered into what was to be one of the most productive Joint Working Group meeting in this MoU's history on the morning of the last day.

Program Overview - Track 3

Representatives from Läkemedelverket and Folkhälsomyndigheten stayed back in Delhi in order to present at the WHO conference and meet with CDSCO and Safdarjung Hospital respectively. They rejoined the larger group for the Roundtable, Reception, and JWG meeting. The entire trip was rounded off by a Team Sweden meeting at the Embassy in order to debrief and delegate immediate action points.

Most common issues raised

• Nurse Training
• Doctor Exchange
• Clinical Decision Support (AI)
• Early Screening
• Elderly Care
• AMR / Environmental Impact

Participants

Much of the reason for the success of this delegation trip rests with the participants - a dedicated set of smart, funny, and flexible individuals. Thank you for coming!

• Karolinska University Hospital
• Getinge
• Aleris
• DocOnline
• eHealth Agency
• Public Health Agency
• Medical Products Agency
• FORTE
• Socialdepartmentet
• Swecare Foundation

Special Mention

• Embassy of India in Sweden
• EMPE Diagnostics
• Gothenburg Business Region
• AstraZeneca
• Sweden-India Business Council
• Swedish Chamber of Commerce in India (SCCI)
• Business Sweden
• Vinnova

For those interested in India - come check-out India-Sweden Business Day

Central Baltic Health Access trip to India - Sept 2017

Key takeaways

1. You have to be excited to be there. If being in India does not make you happy then it will be very hard to motivate yourself and your team to invest time and money necessary to succeed in the Indian market. Two of the participants woke up at 2am to visit the Taj Mahal from Delhi (+3hrs one-way by car) before their 11am meetings with agencies and distributors. This passion speaks for itself, and the Indian counterparts are much more likely to go an extra mile (in this case quite literally) if you show that you are doing so yourself.

2. A physical presence is extremely important. Most people will actually want to meet you first and then take it from there. If, in the Swedish manner, you try to book meeting weeks in advance with a set agenda, the response is unlikely to be overwhelming. One of our Swedish delegates was so concerned with what she saw as a lack of planning that she "almost didn't come, [...] but there were so many good meetings that were unprepared!" She booked her ticket days before this CBHA trip and was not disappointed.

3. When your extremely talented and dedicated local coach tells you to take an Indian SIM card, listen to him. I regretted not having taken an old phone with me as many of my texts did not go through and data connectivity was patchy at best. There was no WiFi at the conference venue which made it difficult to follow-up and set-up meetings with the leads one had just met, an Indian number would have made life much easier.

4. Use Whatsapp - one of the representatives of a government regulatory body said that he is unlikely to ever answer an email as he is constantly running between meetings and stuck in traffic (many official domains are inaccessible on the mobile). Get potential partners' mobile numbers and use them.

About the trip

The third installment of the Central Baltic Health Access project consisted of three days in Delhi and two days in Bengaluru over the third week in September. The sheer variety of meetings we managed to fit into these few days is nothing short of impressive. For this we have Sachin Gaur and his team at InnovatioCuris to thank. I believe I speak for all participants - six from Sweden, five from Estonia, and four from Finland - when I say that it was a productive trip. Company mission reviews have started to come in and we will book in coaching meetings over the next few weeks in order to ensure follow-up, but the general feeling, even after two days in Delhi, was that many promising connections have been made - with distributors, clinics, hospitals, start-ups, research institutes, regulatory agencies.

We were also privileged to have hands-on support from both the Estonian and Swedish Embassies in Delhi. The Ambassadors spent a considerable amount of time with the companies, in order to understand the needs, challenges, and expectations of each representative. This type of local support is key for success in foreign markets. In fact Swecare is already in talks with the Embassy, Business Sweden, InnovatioCuris, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to explore the option of making this type of business-focused trips a regular event. If you are interested in this form of deep engagement, do let us know!

Participants:

Representative name	Organization
Dr. Jaanus Pikani	Documental, Estonia
Ms. Piia Vettik-Leemet	Tartu Biotechnology Park, Estonia
Mr. Jan Erik Hedborg	ApiRays, Sweden
Mr. Priit Aigro	Smart Do, Estonia
Ms. Maarika Merirand	Tehnopol, Estonia
Dr. Pieter Spee	Fibrotx, Estonia
Ms. Malin Hollmark	Swedish Medtech, Sweden
Ms. Shampa Bari	Swecare, Sweden
Mr. Hakan Jideus	Predicare, Sweden
Mr. Pavan Asalapuram	Empe diagnostics, Sweden
Ms. Caroline Danielson	RenaPharma, Sweden
Mr. Joonas Ihalainen	iCare, Finland
Mr. Tero Karhi	Turku Science Park, Finland
Dr. Katja Heikkinen	Turku AMK, Finland
Ms. Marjatta Häsänen	Turku AMK, Finland

Food for thought

Before signing off, I leave you with some few points I have pondering over since the trip.

- If the diagnostic test costs more than the 'cure,' often antibiotics, wouldn't you too just take the latter?

- How to tackle the aging challenge, which the Indian healthcare system is only now coming to see as a threat?

- Can our products be price-competitive when there is such heavy tax imposed on imports into India? Is manufacturing there a viable option?

- When it comes to product tests, must the companies fund the research themselves, or are there easily available funds in Sweden? The Indian research agencies have such funds for the work being done on their end but cannot finance the Swedish engagement, making the PPP project less tenable.