How to Make the Strategic Innovation Partnerships Work for You

Sweden has signed innovationspartnerskap with three countries - Germany, France, and India - since 2017. As described on their website, the purpose of the partnership is

"to work together and, through innovation, address the challenges of the transition to[wards] a more sustainable welfare society, create new jobs and maintain social cohesion [sic]."

While the dialogue between governments has been ongoing and some research collaborations among institutions have taken place, there has been little engagement with the third pillar in triple helix: the private sector. Aside from a few projects within clean energy financed by the state, few incentives have been created to encourage companies to leverage the partnership. This, however, does not mean that there are no exciting exchanges taking place.

Below are highlights from visits made by all three countries in the month of June.

Germany

Minister Barbara Klepsch, State Minister of Social Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Free State of Saxony, led a 30-person strong delegation under the theme: Digitization in Health Care.

Photo from https://www.ltu.se/

“This trip is [...] particularly important to me, and I very much value thisopportunity of being able to strengthen the relations between Saxony and Sweden and to engender new collaborations."

The delegation - organised by Tysk-Svenska Handelskammaren and consisting of state, agency, insurance, and company representatives -  visited a number of Swedish companies along with Socialdepartementet, eHälsomyndigheten, the Royal Palace, and universities in Stockholm and Luleå. Swecare had the privilege of welcoming the delegation on its first day and presenting an overview of the Swedish health care system - our strengths, challenges, and vision.

One delegate felt both slightly disappointed and genuinely inspired that Sweden was not as digitised as he had feared, making collaborations on equal terms more likely.

France

Little did we know that when we invited CEO Pascal Roché of Ramsay Générale de Santé, current owners of Capio, for a half-day seminar in Stockholm, it would lead to one of the most interactive events of the year, with both presenters and audience engaging with complete frankness and good humour. Swecare and Business Sweden France hosted the event as a continuation of the conversation from the  conference in Paris on "Innovation in health: A French-Swedish dialogue” with more activities planned for the Fall.

Key take-aways:

• From Pascal: Ramsay Générale de Santé reduces queues and costs by operating more efficiently due to successfully implementing small innovations across all their units. He advises President Macron as to how this can be done within France's public hospitals as well.
• From Jan Gustavsson, Vice President Worldwide Sales for ScandiDos: If you are going to do business in France, keep a significant buffer for administrative costs which should be outsourced.

Macron mentioned health care twice during his five-minutes at the joint press conference held with Löfven early June. This is clearly a prioritised sector for France.

India

On the occasion of the India-Sweden Year of Health, the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs welcomed a high-level delegation from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jodhpur led by its Director, Professor Sanjeev Misra. As part of this visit, Swecare organised an intimate round table for its members.

The aim of our close collaboration with AIIMS Jodhpur is to lay the foundation for scaling Swedish solutions and products to other AIIMS, with the exception of New Delhi, across India: 8 already functioning, 9 in the process of being built, 4 more planned. This also gives us the opportunity to operationalise the Innovation Partnership.

The 5-person delegation met with government agencies and institutions in Stockholm and Uppsala. They also had the opportunity to test VR tools and visit Swedish companies already engaged in projects in Jodhpur.

Next Steps

We are already planning the next activities in all three countries so please email us at Swecare if you want to be involved!

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

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!

Nordiskt Samarbete i fokus på Upgraded Life Festival

Femte upplagan av Upgraded Life Festival eller ULFFI i folkmun hölls förra veckan på Academic Medical Center i Helsingfors och självklart var Swecare på plats och representera som konferens partner. Maria Nygård och hennes team hade fått riktigt bra internationellt program på plats.

 Bland höjdpunkterna var Shafi Ahmed från Singularity University som visade både världens första virtuella kirurg och kirurgi med augmented reality, och avatarer i operationssalen.

 Swecares Nima Jokilaakso deltog i en panel om hållbara sjukvårdslösningar med Nordic Center for Sustainable Healthcare där det nordiska samarbetet inom området lyftes. Daniel Eriksson passade på att berätta om det virtuella sjukhuset som kan fungera som plattform för att visa på nordiska produkter och tjänster.

Förutom de 500+ förbokade möten på konferensen för deltagare ordnade Swecare informella möten med top-influensers för medlemmar.

Matthew Holt, ordförande i Health2.0 nätverket och bosatt i Silicon Valley, hälsar svenska bolag varmt välkomna till nästa Health2.0 / HIMSS Europe i Helsingfors 2019! Välkommen! Tervetuloa!

Great foundation for knowledge exchange between Sweden and Germany

After the visit to the Ministry of Employment we hosted the delegation of socialdemocratic members of the landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the state diet of this German federal state. The delegation was headed by Thomas Krüger, and assisted by the embassy of Germany in Stockholm.

Henrik Moberg from the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs gave the delegation an overview of the Swedish healthcare system and government initiatives such as Vision2025.

After which Dr. Jokilaakso presented how Swecare works with internationalization efforts and partnerships, including some recent data on identified strongholds where eHealth-solutions are high-lighted as such. Thus, both Nordic and Swedish initiatives such as eHealth-by-Sweden was shown to the delegates. These discussions including e-prescriptions, HER, and virtual doctors-visits fit really well with the scope of the bilateral innovation partnership that was signed by PM Stefan Löfven and Chancellor Angela Merkel. It was obvious to all attending that while our healthcare systems are very different there is increased urgency to learn from each other since we have complementary strengths needed for a sustainable healthcare system. This is an excellent basis for deepened talks and further collaboration.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Huge interrest in Swedish life science and ehealth solutions when Mexican delegation met Swecare

It was with great pleasure we welcomed the delegation headed by the secretary of economic development of Hidalgo, José Luis Romo Cruz. Previously Head of the Planning Unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute at the national level, IMSS and General Director of Planning of the National Commission of Social Protection in Health (Popular Insurance).

During the meeting Dr. Jokilaakso presented the Swedish healthcare system that shares lots of similarities with its Mexican counterpart.

Further the delegation discussed the life science sector and what Swedish companies can contribute with since the coverage of the health insurance is rapidly expanding in Mexico. Topics discussed where how e-prescription, EHR and other crucial infrastructure can be provided with high interoperability and cybersecurity and what the IOT revolution means for a country like Mexico that is a major manufacturer of medical devices.

Also, investment opportunities in Hidalgo for medtech and pharma companies was lifted as an interesting option for Swedish companies interested in selling in the Latin American and US market.


Bienvenido a Hidalgo en México con nosotros

Rwanda & Uganda: Exploring East Africa - Part II

Diversity. The cross-section of Swedish society represented in our delegation surprised even us organizers. We came from government, agency, institutions, and private business; covering the domains of diplomacy, policy, financing, MedTech, pharma, eHealth, and consulting; with origins ranging from South Africa, Kenya, Bangladesh, China, and Germany; all of us representing and promoting Sweden - and Swedish expertise, with a goal to learn, collaborate, and strengthen our capacity. We were also joined by a representative from our EU-funded project Central Baltic Health Access, Piret Hirv from Tallinn Tehnopol Sience Park.

The objective of this delegation trip, like the one to Kenya and Tanzania in November, was to take a few companies, institutions, and state representatives to Rwanda and Uganda, to meet potential local collaborators with whom they can forge longlasting partnerships in order to expand, and/or establish, their presence in and across East Africa.

The delegation trip itself would not have come about without the close collaboration between Swecare Foundation, Business Sweden, and the Swedish Embassies in Kigali and Kampala as well as the CBHA. The visibility and credibility of the delegation increase significantly when we work towards a common goal while planning these visits.

Program Overview

The trip started with Monday morning with a briefing at the Swedish Embassy in Kigali, led by the Swedish Ambassador to Rwanda, Jenny Ohlsson. 

Site visits included a trip to the Military Hospital, which is in the process of installing an Elekta unit in their largely insurance-covered facilities. The delegation then met with the Director General of Clinical Services at the Rwandan Ministry of Health and got a first-hand account of the evolving state of the Rwandan healthcare systems at the sprawling Kigali University Teaching Hospital (CHUK). It was encouraging to hear about the amount of resources the Rwandan government devotes in ensuring that an increasing number of patients are covered by insurance. The day ended with a reception hosted at the Swedish Residence.

On our second day, we had the extraordinary privilege of attending the first African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) Business Forum, one-day before the signing of this historic commitment. This was followed by our own East African Community Business & Investment Forum, an annual initiative by the Swedish East Africa Chamber of Commerce (SWEACC) with a focus on health this year. Despite strong competition from the much-larger coinciding event, we had a decent turnout (see picture above) and, more importantly, a couple of heated sessions on disease management and long-term financing solutions. The session included a welcome by Dr Jean-Pierre Nyamanzi, the Permanent Secretary at the Rwandan Ministry of Health, an introduction by our delegation leader Niclas Jacobson from Socialdepartmentet and a talk by an industry expert, Hans Winberg of the independent policy thinktank Leading Health Care. This was followed by B2B meetings for our private sector partners. 

After an early flight into Entebbe on our third day, we made a site visit to the National Medical Stores, which handles the procurement and distribution of goods for the public hospital system, before heading into Kampala, Uganda. The Swedish Embassy in Kampala organized an impressive networking reception which drew all the major actors in the Ugandan healthcare sector - a testament to the incredible relationship between our two countries. Such was the interest in our companies, that many of the delegates did not get a chance to sample any of the refreshments on offer. I am looking forward to seeing some of the contacts made that evening develop into concrete partnerships. Swecare and Tallinn Tehnopol Science Park took this opportunity to sign a MoU with the Ugandan Healthcare Federation in order to formalize the existing collaboration under the CBHA program.

Our big surprise the next day was a meeting with the Ugandan Minister of Health herself, the Honorable Minister Sarah Opendi, whom, we had been told, would be unable to meet with us. She went out of the way in order to make time to sit down with us to discuss taking projects and investments to the next stage. The delegation made site visits to the new maternity wing of Uganda's largest hospital, Mulago Referral Hospital, and its associated Ugandan Cancer Institute (UCI), which has also recently acquired an Elekta unit. After short meetings at the Joint Medical Stores and the new management at International Hospital Kampala, we said goodbye to much of the delegation as only a few of us stayed on for one last, optional, morning session at the UK-East Africa Health Improvement Summit.

Most common requests:

• More frequent visits
• Clear follow-up
• Financing solutions
• Technician training

Participating Companies

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!

• Getinge
• Elekta
• Doctrin
• Luco Holding
• AstraZeneca
• Swedfund
• MedCardApps (MCA)

For those who were not with us this time, do look into joining us on one of our upcoming trips: Swecare Events.

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.

Joint Swedish-German workshop for bilateral cooperation in eHealth

It was a happy crowd that gathered at the German Embassy in Stockholm, as the forth meeting this year to move further in the spirit of the innovation partnership that exists.

The experts, trade organizations and government representatives were welcomed by Dr. Hans-Jürgen Heimsoeth, German Ambassador to Sweden, after which Andreas Hartl, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and Nino Mangiapane, Federal Ministry of Health presented how eHealth is important for the continuation of growth of the German economy. The German healthcare sector is the single most backwards industry when it comes to digitalization which is of course a setback for an otherwise world leading manufacturer and provider of healthcare products and services. There are many challenges such as regulations, decentralization, integrity concerns from the citizens but also the lack of perception of the urgency to adapt and digitalize. Which was heavily debated by the participants.

After which MiH reps from both countries, Henrik Moberg and Niklas Kramer presented current plans for digitalization in healthcare. Followed up by a knowledgeable and empathic presentation on political backing of these initiatives by Anders Lönnberg, National Coordinator for the life sciences leading to heavy table-knocking from all participants.

To move from the regulations, integrity and policy heavy topic to a lighter subject, Julia Hagen from Bitkom presented the challenges for startups in Germany and here both parties could argue that there is a risk of brain drain if policy-makers and the public healthcare providers are too slow to act on these challenges. That entrepreneurs are increasingly looking for offshores markets to sell and even relocate to. While investments were lifted as a challenge the major challenge is rather revenue and unclarity on the regulatory requirements such as CE-marking and GDPR.

This lead to the area of data usage, which lead to a warm and intense debate, where both the role of standards, updated regulations, and creation of roadmaps and guidelines was lifted. Here the German Electronic Health Card was discussed as well as the Swedish unlaunched initiatives such as HälsaförMig™, and the underlying software, where the usage of bitcoin could be a solution. All parties agreed that a huge problem in the legislature is that technology advances faster and it is hard to judge past solutions with todays or tomorrows technical capacity. Further the need of making legislative bodies and governments more Tech-savvy to understand that the technology is seldom black-or-white but very adaptive to different sorts of needs such as those regarding dynamic consent, opt-in and opt-out and other things that is fully technically possible. Estonia was lifted as an example of a forwards’ nation in how to understand the potential and dynamics of the technology in a realistic and pragmatic way for government needs. Finally, parties agreed that while Sweden and Germany has a lot to learn from each other, we should also include best practice learnings from the outside in particular in the set-up of consensus creation such as the Seqouia project for sharing health data.

The concrete next steps wanted are a formalized innovation platform to continue these discussions to reduce barriers of entry to the markets, and retain and grow our homegrown eHealth companies, AND on a more concrete tone the trade delegation 7-8 February to Berlin that SWECARE and the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce organize.

Zusammen!

The Largest Audience Ever - when Swedish Companies tour USA

Five companies from Sweden attended a business mission to USA in October-November 2017 to meet with healthcare insurance companies, legal and market entry experts, science parks and incubators and a lobbyist or two. The business visit was organized in cooperation with Swedish Medtech, Embassy of Sweden in Washington DC, The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce (SACC-USA and SACC –DC), with support from AHP International and The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The business visit was performed under the framework of CB Health Access, a joint program between Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia, which supports health technology companies entering distant markets.  

 

During the business mission to USA, the companies visited several sites in the Greater Philadelphia to Greater DC corridor.  The business mission started in Philadelphia where the companies met healthcare insurance companies, legal and market entry experts, science parks and incubators. The first day of meetings were held at the Morgan Lewis office, where meetings with Independence Blue Cross, and Ben Frankling Technology Partners, and the president for Sectra Inc. Which was concluded with socializing with the amazing local investors and Ulf Åkerblom the Swedish honorary consul to US.

The following day the companies visited Dreamit Ventures and other inhabitants at the Science Center, after which a meeting was held at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia with representatives of the regional eco-system such as City of Philadelphia, Select Greater Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The latter has a collaboration with AHP International on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and thus had helped out with the Philadelphia program, thus the companies met AHP before traveling to Washington DC for a meeting on regulations with Advamed, located with a view of The Capitolium, what the companies managed to get a guided tour before closure.

The following day, the companies had a full day program at The House of Sweden, with experts on thrilling topics such as Macroeconomics & Political Outlook, Healthcare Laws & Regulations, e-Health interoperability initiatives, US.market entry from an academic and Swedish company experience outlook and finally what the essence of lobbying is. The program was done in cooperation with the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce that was helpful in arranging meetings, speakers and logistics. In the evening the companies and speaker had a rendezvous at welcome reception hosted at the Swedish ambassador’s residence.

The final day, the companies had tours to Medtronic,where the companies learned about how the global leader in medical devices is reinventing its role in the healthcare chain, setting up it´s own clinics in Europe. After which the tour continued to the Inova Center for Personalized Health in Virginia, where the companies got to learn how ICPH uses the latest science and technology to focus on the integration of genomics into personalized medicine and individualized wellness, as well as having individual meetings with experts. So after dropping half of the people at the airport the brave few continued to Maryland for a meeting with Get Real Health, created the personal health account commissioned by the Swedish eHealth Agency, called Hälsa för Mig.

CB Health Access program was initiated in 2016 between Estonian, Finnish, Latvian and Swedish technology organizations to support entrepreneurship in health technologies. The program facilitates the entry of Estonian, Latvian, Swedish and Finnish health tech companies to distant markets – South Korea, USA, India and Uganda. CB Health Access provides the companies with an introduction of the target market, individual coaching both from the home country and from target market experts, market information, business missions, and identifying and contacting potential partners, and business missions. The program has a strong focus for the companies to achieve sales in the chosen market. The program is financed by Central Baltic Interreg Program.

For more information on the CB Health Access program see https://www.cbhealthaccess.eu/, or contact: Maarika.Merirand@tehnopol.ee, Malin.Hollmark@swedishmedtech.se or Anna.Riby@swecare.se

Standarder – Förkortningar som förenklar och förkortar vägen till affärer

Tidigt en höstruskig morgon 25 oktober fylldes mötesrummet av medlemsbolag och medan doften av varma nybakade bullar spred sig och kaffet väckte liv i lemmarna så såg de med förväntan på att lära sig mer om hur standarder gynnar bolagen och företagsmiljön, med särskilt fokus på eHälsa.

Seminariet inleddes av Fredrik Göthe, affärsområdeschef vård och omsorg från Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) som gav en generell överblick om vad standarder är, vilka principer som råder och varför de är viktiga för bolagen och samhället.  Därefter förklarade Fredrik hur det nationella och internationella standardiseringsarbetet går till. Vilken roll Sverige och SIS har i arbetet i CEN (den europeiska standardiseringsorganisationen) och i ISO (den internationella standardiseringsorganisationen). 

Därefter tog Dan Nilsson, standardiseringschef vård och omsorg från SIS över, och förklarade hur arbetet med standarder är viktigt för just life science och eHälsobolagen, och hur det gynnar patienten i slutändan när vårdsystemet använder standarder. Just systemperspektivet lyftes och hur teknologistandarder, process standarder tillsammans med quality outcomes och clinical guidelines bidrar till bättre vård. Samt vilken företagens roll är att följa regler och krav, och hur standarder kan hjälpa bolagen att göra rätt från början. Det blev mycket frågor från bolagen gällande GDPR, MDR och IVDR där olika ISO-serier diskuterades .  Vilket gjorde att både noviser som erfarna deltagare fick nytta av morgonens seminarium. Just informationssäkerhet var ett hett ämne och allt ifrån journalsystem, hälsoappar, sensorer och IOT diskuterades flitigt. Dessutom lyftes frågor om vad som är rimligt att förvänta sig kring nya lagar och standarder där SIS hade stor inblick i det arbete på EU-nivå som redan pågår och kommer påverka bolagen.

Slutligen lyftes och diskuterades hur standarder som används tidigt i innovationsprocessen underlättar interoperabilitet och effektivare upphandling vilket direkt gör bolagen mer konkurrenskraftiga både hemma och utomlands. En debatt hölls även kring hur Sverige kan bidra i harmoniseringsarbetet och aktivt påverka både i bilaterala samarbetet (särskilt Tyskland och Frankrike nämndes i dessa sammanhang), men också på EU-nivå och i olika kommittéer.