Finland Healthcare Testbed

Is your company seeking opportunities to validate your products in collaboration with healthcare service providers? University hospitals and city governments in major cities across Finland have created testbed environments to provide makers of advanced medical technologies with access to authentic clinical environments to test new innovations in everything from health and food technology, to diagnostics and drug development, to primary, senior and home care, to health IT and more. These testbeds connect makers of related technologies to with experts and infrastructure, provide clear processes and co-operation models, and facilitate access to platforms for education and research collaboration.

Finland prides itself as an ideal testbed environment in several industries, including in healthcare and medical technologies. With an  innovative early-adopter culture, Finland is well positioned to support pilot projects.

With a population of 5.5 million people, the country is small enough to launch pilot projects and large enough to yield statistically valid data. The country’s homogeneous gene pool (often referred to as a “population bottleneck”) and cohesive IT-driven national patient health record system help pinpoint gene variants to validate and refine potential new therapies. Exposure to Finland’s immensely innovative business ecosystem gives American companies ample opportunity to create new partnerships with similarly globally-minded Finnish companies. Combine these factors, and engagement in Finland’s testbeds represents an excellent opportunity for American manufacturers of advanced medical technologies to complement their U.S.-based activities in preparing their solutions for global growth.

Best prospects include electronic medical records (EMR’s), X-ray equipment, patient monitoring systems, mini-invasive surgery, video endoscopes, digital image processing and archiving, antibody gene delivery technologies, gene vaccines for cancer immunotherapy, and technologies for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

There are currently seven testbeds in Finland, each with its own sectoral priorities: Oulu HealthLab, HealthHUB Tampere, Health Campus Turku, Kuopio Living Lab, HUS Testbed, City of Helsinki, ELSA Testbed.

For more information write to the Commercial Section at the U.S. Embassy in Finland: office.helsinki@trade.gov