Digital Health Track at Arctic15 brings Health Tech, Pharma and Biotech together

    This is a guest post by Ville Koiste from Sitra, The Finnish Innovation Fund. Digital Health Track at Arctic15 (May 26th–27th) is organized in cooperation with Sitra.

    In recent months, Finland has become a true hotspot for health and life sciences: Last autumn Slush, the largest tech conference in the Northern Europe, gathered more than 150 health & wellness startups to Helsinki. Early 2015, GE Healthcare invested over 28 million euros to create an expertise hub for digital healthcare in Finland. Other giant, Samsung Electronics, began partnership with a Finnish health accelerator Vertical just three days later. And only a few weeks ago, Bayer announced a collaboration with Auria, a Finnish biobank, regarding cancer research.

    This spring, Arctic15 enables the next miracles to happen as Digital Health Track (May 26) gathers health tech and life sciences startups, investors and established companies together. The track is supported by world leading pharma players such as Bayer and MSD as well as Elisa, a Finnish telecom company. We will experience international keynote speakers, pitch presentations by the most promising startups and interesting health-related workshops, one of them organized jointly by Apple-IBM.

    Can digital cure health care? According to investors, yes

    All over the world healthcare costs are rising and new innovative, cost-effective solutions are needed. “As patient numbers have increased, traditional communication channels are no longer enough, therefore we need to actively develop completely new and more effective ways to take care of our patients”, says Johanna Mattson, Chief Physician at HUCH Cancer Center and one of our DHT speakers.

    Digitalization and advances in health technology will change the way doctors treat patients. In addition, electronic health records and more accessible medical information have empowered citizens to self-monitor their health and engage with the healthcare system.

    Partly in the spirit of ‘makers and quantified self’ movements, citizens are also becoming more curious about their general well-being and health. Startups, many times founded by former scientists or tech professionals, are revolutionizing health care from the bottom up. At the same time, large pharmaceutical companies are preparing for the expected transformation from volume to value-based care. New tools and solutions are needed to achieve the best outcomes at the lowest cost.

    As an umbrella term, Digital Health covers multiple categories related to the revolution in health care. Categories such as analytics and big data, healthcare consumer engagement, digital medical devices, telemedicine, personalized medicine, healthcare-related applications, genomics etc. It seems that these terms are on the lips of life sciences investors more often than ever before. Investment in digital health is soaring and e.g. RockHealth has estimated that digital health funding topped $4 billion in 2014.

    Digital Health Track offers an interesting mix of pharma, biotech and health technology

    Digital Health Track (DHT) at Arctic15 Conference is a platform for health & life sciences ecosystem to network and find opportunities for business partnerships. Although different stakeholders have different goals, DHT has something for everyone. Digital Health innovations quite often need cooperation between small and large companies and they include an innovative combination of technology, service design and life sciences. In addition, some “smart money” is needed to commercialize the innovation and to build essential professional networks. This is a good, simplified recipe for a venture in its roadmap to success.

    Startups are able to present their ideas to established companies and investors. Just utilize the Arctic15 matchmaking tool. We’re also offering limited amount of free demo tables and pitching opportunities for health tech & life sciences startups and innovations (Application DL April 30th). And for investors Arctic15 and its Digital Health Track offer an efficient way to find syndication partners and potential investment targets. Just travel to Helsinki and meet startups from several regions, mainly from Nordic-Baltic countries.

    Established companies are actively trying to figure out the “next big thing” in healthcare. At DHT they can efficiently accelerate business development initiatives and explore cross-industry innovations. On a more concrete level, health-related workshops (May 26 & 27) organized by e.g. Apple-IBM, Bayer Grants4Apps Accelerator and Team Finland dig deeper into a special subject, and participants will have the chance to meet others who are likewise interested in it.

    Last but not least, Digital Health stage offers six hours of inspiring content for all conference guests on the opening day of Arctic15. Keynote speakers and panelists that you are able to meet and listen to during the DHT include e.g.:

    Claudia Karnbach, Head of Global Business Development and Licensing, Specialty Medicine, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals

    Tara Scharif, Managing Director Healthcare Investment Banking, WestPark Capital Inc

    Marko Koistila, General Manager, GlaxoSmithKline Finland

    Johanna Mattson, Chief Physician, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH) Cancer Center

    and also Yilmaz Mahshid, Healthcare Analyst, Pareto Securities; representatives from Bayer Grants4Apps Accelerator, Elisa… and many more to come. Stay tuned for updates!

    Digital Health Track is organized to create value for every stakeholder in the health ecosystem – and to build a healthier future for all of us. More information: www.arctic15.com/dht

    All this is made possible by our Digital Health Track partners: