Why Helsinki is your top destination to build the future of health

Where can you find the best ecosystem and people to develop your unique health solution? Find out why Helsinki, Finland, is a great destination for building the future of health.

The New Children’s Hospital in Helsinki, Finland’s largest hospital focused on demanding specialist pediatric care, was opened in 2018.

The future of health is digital, personalized, and preventive. As a health company leader, you know that rapid development of new solutions enables accurate personal treatment and efficient care delivery. The new era of healthcare is here, and this is the best time for you to speed up future growth.

But where to find the needed innovative mindset, top expertise and speed?

As part of your growth story, it is essential to seriously consider the innovation ecosystem in which you can reach necessary development goals, and have the best competencies and resources.

1. Prioritize a supportive health ecosystem.

A small but vibrant city, Helsinki’s capital region in Finland is a hidden gem for health sector growth, and it’s considered a top destination for digital, pharmaceutical and medical device R&D centers. Global players such as Bayer, GE Healthcare, Siemens, and Roche have significant R&D and production operations in Finland.

In fact, over 750 health and life sciences companies and over 150 active health startups call the Helsinki Metropolitan area home, and the HUS Helsinki University Hospital is one of the largest healthcare organizations in Europe. The hospital was ranked #21 in a global listing published by Newsweek in 2020.

Helsinki Metropolitan features two world-class universities and a vast talent pool of health and tech professionals. Helsinki also hosts one of the best public healthcare and education systems in the world, and it’s the capital of one of the most highly trusted governments and media environments on the planet. Oh, and Finland has been ranked #1 happiest country by The World Happiness report for four consecutive years.

2. Make sure there’s deep tech expertise and an established industry.

The Finnish health industry is known as a testbed for growing advanced clinical features that follow high quality and top user experience.

In the Helsinki region, there are approximately 140,000 health tech talents specialized in digital healthcare development, digital app development, biopharma, medical technology, and other relevant fields.

In the Helsinki region, there are approx. 140,000 specialized health tech talents.

Health companies operating in Helsinki are able to execute their development plans efficiently because they can take advantage of Finland’s clinical investigation and information capabilities. Helsinki Metropolitan is known for producing top-notch research in a vast range of clinical specialties and technologies, covering such areas as genomic research, cancer research, medical imaging, pharmaceutical development, digital solutions, AI, and quantum computing.

Finnish medical products are present globally, and you can get good support and expertise for testing, piloting and getting CE approval.

3. Leverage unique health data access for rapid development.

There is strong governmental support to position Finland as a global leader in healthcare. Its legislation on secondary use of health and social data, including its Biobank Act, are groundbreaking and innovation-friendly.

The Finns’ unique genetic heritage and the breadth and depth of electronic health data records make Finland exceptional research goldmine. Great examples are the unique FinnGen project and HUS Helsinki University Hospital’s data lake, which is one of the largest data lakes in the world. We invite you to come join the well-connected environment and dig into the data!

4. Determine opportunities for collaboration.

There are numerous opportunities for your company to gain new innovations from collaborations with a supportive startup community.

The City of Helsinki supports small and medium-sized business activities because it’s in the core of the city’s strategy. We also offer several locations for new companies to settle down, such as Terkko Health Hub in Meilahti Campus area next to HUS Helsinki University Hospital, and Maria01, the leading startup campus in the Nordics. In addition, Health Incubator Helsinki provides a long-term, personalised incubator program for research-based early-stage teams operating in the health sector in Finland and abroad.

Helsinki’s health communities provide inspiring environments for ambitious products and services. Finland’s open culture encourages collaboration between companies. Here, everyone achieves more by tackling global challenges together.