Nordic Life Science Magazine:

The latest issue of Nordic Life Science Magazine highlights Helsinki region as one of the thriving life science innovation districts in the Nordics. The area offers a mixture of global healthcare corporations, an active startup community, and academic strengths.

The Nordic Life Science Magazine article describes the strengths and flagships of Helsinki Metropolitan region, as well as the role of Health Capital Helsinki, bringing the different actors in the region together.”There are many strongholds here. Artificial intelligence, digital health, health data together with cancer and neurology research are clear key areas. Leading global healthcare corporations including GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Siemens Healthineers Varian have their R&D units in the capital region, as well as our local Orion Pharma. In addition, we have a very active startup community, anchored in hard science – many of the startups are university spin-offs,” says Juha Paakkola, Director of Health Capital Helsinki, interviewed for the article.

Artificial intelligence, digital health, health data together with cancer and neurology research are clear key areas.

The strongest universities, Helsinki University and Aalto University, and leading university hospital, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, create the innovation base. In addition, the ecosystem is working well, i.e., private companies and public ecosystem stakeholders are very open and seeking collaboration, he adds.As for Helsinki region flagships, the article highlights

• The new health startup incubator Health Incubator Helsinki
• iCAN digital precision cancer medicine platform, a public-private-patient-partnership
• CleverHealth Network co-development ecosystem
• HUS Helsinki University Hospital’s state-of-the-art data lake
• Metropolia Proof Health RDI environment, and
• Finland’s leadership in health tech and new technologies like 5G, VR/XR and AI.

Health Capital Helsinki bringing the actors together

Health Capital Helsinki, initiated in 2015, has an important role in facilitating the Helsinki region health ecosystem. Juha Paakkola dscribes Health Capital Helsinki’s three roles in the article:”We develop and represent the ecosystem. There are several campus areas and many stakeholders in the Helsinki Metropolitan region. Building new connections and partnerships, and identifying gaps and opportunities are important. Secondly, we support innovation and growth. Health Capital Helsinki is ensuring that health startups and research-based innovations find support and get connected with the right international partners, corporations, investors, and ecosystems, at the right time.”The third role is building high-value international networks.”International partners (ecosystems, corporations, investors), are key for success,” says Paakkola.
Health Capital Helsinki