Senaste nytt inom "Sweden-India Year of Health" - vad har hänt och vad är på gång!

Samarbetet med Indien fördjupas och Sweden-India Year of Health löper på. En mängd delegationer passerar Sverige och flera har även besökt Indien på senare tid.

En stor Tech Delegation var här i samband med Stockholm Tech Week där även Swecare modererade en panel om IoT, AI, och Robotik i hälsosektorn. Många nya kontakter knöts mellan våra start-ups (watch this space!).

Socialdepartementet och Swecare var i Indien för någon vecka sedan och tog då tillfället i akt och träffade våra kollegor på hälsoministeriet. De är fortsatt entusiastiska till samarbetet och vårt jubileumsår. 

Besöket från Jodhpur beskrevs i positiva ordalag och chefen för avdelningen som ansvarar för universitetssjukhusen sa att ministeriet anser att AIIMS Jodhpur är det bästa och mest välfungerande av de nya AIIMS utanför Delhi. Vi vill gärna se en större samverkan mellan svenska myndigheter och företag eftersom det här är en fantastik möjlighet att visa på våra styrkor inom hälsosektorn.

Vi fick träffade även några stora (svenska) och små (indiska) bolag, tjänstemän på lokala hälsoministerier i Maharashtra och Karnataka, och Indiska key opinion leaders inom vården. Vi pratade om innovationshub (Delhi) och test beds (Bengaluru) men vi behöver utveckla idéerna i samband med våra lokala partners, Business Sweden, och Svenska Ambassaden i New Delhi.

I samband med besöket tog vi upp frågan om nästa Joint Working Group under samförståndsavtalet och firandet av jubileumsåret och besök av den indiske hälsoministern som vi föreslagit skulle kunna sammanfalla i Stockholm under senhösten. Två datumförslag i november har lämnats till ministern då vår minister Lena Hallengren skulle kunna ta emot i Stockholm.

Skulle inte detta ministerbesök bli av är förhoppningen att vi kan förlägga firandet till Indien istället i samband med ett högnivåbesök i Delhi första veckan i december. Även i detta fall borde ett seminarium arrangeras men då förstås i nära samarbete med det indiska departementet.

Håll ögonen öppna, fortsättning följer!


Läs mer om vårt senaste besök i Indisk media:

• The New Strike - September 19, 2019
• HealthcareRadius India - September 18, 2019
• The Prevalent India - September

Swedish-Hungarian Medtech & Digital Health Symposium builds bridges between two classic Life Science nations

It was a joyful group of delegates that met with key stakeholders in Stockholm at the welcome reception at the residence of H.E. dr. Adrien Müller Ambassador with the aim of increasing cooperation and partnerships.

The symposium was honored by the opening words of H.E. dr. Adrien Müller Ambassador and our CEO Maria Helling, after which the attendants learned about the Hungarian development in Medtech and Digital Health and the active work of Medical, Dental and Wellness tourism to Hungary by speakers Eszter Kovacs from Semmelweiss Medical University and Imre Varadi from Infoter.

After which Ylva Wide from the Swedish eHealth Agency and Karina Tellinger McNeill from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) explained their key roles in the Swedish eHealth ecosystem and the Swedish vision on eHealth2025.

After presentations from academia, public sector and NGO´s there was presentations on the business aspects. Janos Rajki from Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency delivered interesting stats and was followed by a case example from Björn Söderberg who had been working with Tensiomed and then company pitches from 77 Elektronika, Iron Rooster Technologies, Meduscmart and Solecall and subsequent speeddating.

The day was wrapped up by a visit to H2 Health Hub for presentations by the CEO Paul Beatus and Per Lek from Stockholm Science City where they presented the development of Hagastaden, and there was some time for companies to talk to the hub-companies. All in all a productive day and a good start for building lasting partnerships.

Massive interest in Australian Digital Health Scene

It was a jolly crowd of 50+ leaders from private- and public sector and researchers that gathered at the residence to kick-off the summer with a digital health reception co-hosted by the Australian Ambassador, Swecare and Medtech4Health.

H.E. Ambassador Jonathan Kenna had the opening speech for the reception where the aim was to hear about Australia’s most recent initiatives in digital health and how Swedish industry and research organizations can become involved. 

Simon Gunn from @Austrade presented new improvements in the Australian digital health market and informed that now when the country in 3 months goes from 5 million in #EHR to full population coverage, there are lots of knowledge sharing possible. The #MyHealthAct will have huge implications
for: Interoperability instead of centralization, Cyber security & Data for clinical research.

Prof. Michael Nilsson CEO of Hunter Medical Research Institute presented the status on e-health in Australia, which combined with the report by Swedish Embassy told a clear story; Swedish solutions are much needed. However, as prof. Dean Carson nicely pointed out “in rural Sweden you have this thing called the internet”, while in Australia they have long experience of research on rural care.

The final panel moderated by Prof. Carl-Johan Sundberg was a refreshing breeze in the warm room, and lifted important areas of improvement for respective country but also the potential win-win of closer collaboration between the countries, while distant in geography so close in mentality.

So let’s break the walls, stop creating new silos, so intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs meet for creative work. There is a sense of urgency & crisis BUT the upside if we find a hybrid of Anglo Saxon risk willingness & Nordic processing is huge!

Swecare - coordinating Nordic collaboration in export supporting activities

It was a merry, tightly knit team that joined the Nordic workshop hosted by PromoteIceland in a sunny Reykjavik with the goal to summarize the results for the feasibility study on a joint Nordic Event financed by Nordic Innovation as a part of the Nordic welfare solutions program. The aim of the project is to increase Nordic collaboration in export supporting activities.

The project team had at the earlier workshop in Copenhagen agreed on a model for identifying Nordic Added Value as,

” There is Political Will and Critical Mass for side activities to maximize the value for an Event targeting a Large or Growing Existing market for Nordic companies and a market where the Nordic Brand is strong.”

and based on this decided to present a prioritized list of events in USA, Canada and Germany. In close-collaboration with the Branding and Storytelling project coordinated by Healthcare Denmark, the team also focused on the Smart Digital Solutions (SDS) and Welfare Technology (WT) strongholds, and companies in this segment. So besides looking into the feasibility of a joint Nordic Event the team also created a recommended model for company activities before, during and after the joint Nordic Event. Of course built on the concept of Lego-blocks!

The next step is presenting results to the Nordic Innovation taskforce meeting in Helsinki, where we will also meet to practically to co-create the joint Nordic Event. Our host then will be our partners and the creators of the Upgraded Life Festival, don´t miss out to connect if in Helsinki on 31st May.

Central Baltic Health Access - Dissemination Seminars

Central Baltic Health Access is an EU-funded program that aims to help health care companies access distant markets. The program started 2.5 years ago, and has helped more than 50 companies in the partner countries reach markets in India, South Korea, Uganda and the US. 

Swedish companies presenting at InnoHealth in New Delhi, September 2017

The dissemination seminars are part of the finalizing activities, and last week we met with companies who have entered India and Uganda through the program, as well as companies and organizations interested in learning from their experiences. The idea of sharing expericence and lessons learned proved to be just the right thing:

After having completed my post-graduate studies, I realized that I had, in fact, learned more from my classmates than from my coursework. This is similar to my experience when participating in, and sometimes even leading, Swecare seminars. When considering markets like South Korea, Uganda, India, and the US, the companies need us mostly as a platform to connect with each other and to potential local partners. This might seem trivial at the outset, but if you look for opportunities to meet possible competitors or like-minded companies interested in similar markets at a neutral setting, hosted by an organization without its own agenda - you may come up empty-handed. And this has really been the strength of the Central Baltic Health Access program from the outset.

The dissemination seminars are meant for the companies who participated in the trips, but Swedish Medtech and Swecare decided to extend the invitation to all the companies in our networks which may be interested in the chosen markets. The participating companies thus got the chance to share their experiences and also meet new potential allies in their efforts to enter a new market. It also gave us the chance to discuss concrete activities to ensure that the momentum of our relationships, with each other, the target market coaches, and local partners, could result in concrete deals.

Follow-up trips to all four countries are already being planned so make sure not to miss out! So far Swecare has plans for delegation trips to Bangalore, India (February 14-16) and Uganda and Rwanda (March 19-23). Contact us for more details.

CBHA Uganda Business Mission visiting International Hospital Kampala, August 2017

Fika with Dr Frank - 2017 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry

photo credit: Yasmine Dahlberg

Swecare Foundation and the Columbia Alumni Association of Sweden had the extraordinary privilege of organizing an intimate event with Columbia University professor and this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner - Dr. Joachim Frank.

As per his wishes, we organized a traditional Swedish fika Saturday afternoon and extended the invitation to colleagues sitting with us in our Life Science Cluster on Sveavägen, along with Columbia University alumni. Given this extremely personal setting and the cozy ambiance created by City Life Konferens & Möte, we were in a position to have in-depth discussions about his work in cryo-electron microscopy - its journey from the 70s and its implications in medicine. Dr. Frank also wanted to hear about our work here in Sweden.

Dr. Frank's passion for his subject was clear when he described how the technology he developed enables us to capture the 'dance' which takes place within molecules. Instead of seeing molecules in their passive, 2D state, we can now map them at the atomic level which, along with other benefits, allows scientist to develop targeted pharmaceutical products to more effectively fight disease. Dr. Frank spoke of how moved he was when a mother once thanked him for his contribution in developing improved treatment for cystic fibrosis which benefitted her son immensely. To him, his research often feels far removed from the actual people it touches. Alzheimer's is another such condition in which cryo-electron microscopy could provide breakthrough treatment.

Another aspect Dr. Frank stressed was the importance of collaboration. Certain camera functions were developed by industry leaders for their specific use. Similarly, new computer technology has lead to discoveries the three Nobel Prize winners could never have imagined back in the 1970s. With all the doom-and-gloom in the news these days, this was a truly inspiring event which left us all with a feeling that everything is possible.

Thank you Dr. Frank for this incredible honor.

[Read Medtech4Health's Swedish blog on https://medtech4health.se/s63-platsen-dar-alla-fran-nobelpristagare-till-medtech4health-fikar/]