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!

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/]