Digital Health (2022) by TechSavvy.Media

16-17 Virtual reality, AI

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06-07

Stronger, faster, better: Can the healthcare system of the future handle the patients of the future?

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2 Digital Health 2022 Psst – or just sign up for our newsletter to stay on top of the Danish startup-scene Follow the Danish Startup Ecosystem in real-time at www.TechSavvy.Media

This represents a unique opportunity. For Danish companies to become the ones that develop, produce and deliver the future’s technological solutions in healthcare.

In Digital Health 2022, we zoom in on the solutions that are already changing the way we work in health today. We focus on the strengths and opportunities that drive the ecosystem forward. portray the environment’s next big stars and examine the challenges faced by the Danish healthcare technology.

About: Digital Health 2022

The revolution in the healthcare sector is underway. New technologies are digitizing, streamlining and innovating the field and laying the seeds for the future of healthcare. As one of the most digital countries, Denmark leads the way with a world-leading healthcare system in technology and innovation.

Happy reading!

»Digital Health 2022« is produced by TechSavvy Media. Editor in Chief: Erik Lillelund Journalists: Sebastian Kjær & Erik Lillelund Layout: Vratislav Pecka Contact: sales@techsavvy.media Partners We would like to thank the following partners, sponsors and advertisers for making »Digital Health 2022« possible:

to provide a wider

HEALTHCARE 2.0

22-23 How do you survive the regulatory jungle? While several health startups fear being slowed down by the heavy legislation surrounding medical devices, a Danish startup has found a path through the regulations.

08-09 Health Tech Hub Copenhagen: We must dare to think globally when we solve health challenges locally 10-13

handle the

RESEARCH

DIGITAL MENTAL HEALTH

must be able to

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bridge between universities and the business community has never been more important We have to encourage researchers to alternate between university life and entrepreneurship, if we are to solve the resource challenges in the health sector in the future, several expert organizations believe.

THE EXPERTS SAY...

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Automated laboratories: A new generation of is changing the workflow laboratory automation and greater data collection are entering laboratories. This means faster and more efficient development of, among other things, medicine and heralds a new era in laboratories.

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standardize innovation, both Rigshospitalet and Skejby Hospital believe. 05 Editorial: Save the human contact for the personal tasks - and let technology do the rest

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INNOVATION

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reality, AI and data: Mental health is on the brink of a new digital era Psychiatry is poised to take quantum leaps in the coming years. New technologies mean huge innovative potential for an area of health that has been overlooked for too long.

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INVESTMENT

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14 Prevention through tech - the easiest hard way to unburden the health system 15 With a new global venture, Novo Nordisk is at the forefront of the digital health revolution 21 TAKEDA & Health Tech Hub Copenhagen: Collaboration is key to health solutions of the future 24-25 Huram plans to sell subscription-based prevention to the Danes 28-29 Health investors are breaking records, but call for better legislation: »How do you regulate something you have never seen, heard or tried before?« The corona crisis has kicked off a new wave of investment in future technologies and digital solutions within health. But legislation risks halting development, experts predict. 30-31

SURVIVING REGULATION

4 Digital Health 2022 Inside the magazine, you will find...

services and support more interdisciplinary treatment. Therefore, we

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nerships we have all the prerequisites in Denmark. But unfortunately, the public healthcare system is often a closed black box for startups and SMEs.

We need to start establishing partner ships, where public and private parties build trust and are in it together in order to create the solutions that will help free nurses and healthcare personnel. Otherwise, we risk having a future healthcare system where we have neither warm hands nor good enough technology to protect our patients and healthcare staff. The future begins now.

spreading solutions across Denmark and for scaling to international markets.

The nurses and healthcare personnel’s primary task has to be human con tact, not entering data, writing medical records or administering medicine. Because in the near future, X-ray images should be described by algorithms, journals written with speech recognition, SMART solutions control lighting, medi cation dosing and monitoring patients in their own homes, while treatment plans are organized on digital twins, which can also be included in virtual trials. But these measures and many others can only be realized if we have a much closer dialogue and cooperation between the public health service and private busi nesses than we have today.

With a strong healthtech and life science industry, a number of strong startups, focus from the universities on developing AI talents, and a strong focus on public-private innovation and part

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he healthcare system is struggling with too many patients and too few nurses and health care personnel. That calls for new solutions, more innovation and far more use of SMART solutions. We are by no means abolishing human contact. On the con trary, nurses and healthcare personnel must be reserved for the tasks that are currently not being handled. SMART technology, artificial intelligence and algorithms will handle the rest.

Henning Langberg Chief of RigshospitaletInnovation,

Written by Henning Langberg

EditorialSave health care personnel for the personal tasks - and let technology do the rest

In order to change that, there is a concrete need for easier access for companies to the clinical challenges. Establishment of contract forms that make it possible to develop and sell solutions to the public sector. More focus on implementation, so that solutions create concrete value for patients and the healthcare system. And a model for

»The many security and data con siderations naturally make the system sluggish. But the most concrete bottle neck is actually time. The professional staff, who otherwise have an eye for the problems and challenges, simply do not have time to address them. In practice, there is no time to drive innovation

Christian Koerner Head of Digitization at Rigshospitalet

The writing on the wall is therefore clear: The healthcare sector requires inno vation and development on a large scale if it is to continue to deliver what patients expect. This requires a strong bridge between healthcare startups, which often have to deliver the innovations, and the public sector, which has to implement them. But standardizing innovation is not entirely without challenges.

t is a challenge that can be felt. One that has no chance of resolving itself. In the future, the healthcare sector must do almost everything faster, better and more efficiently in order to handle an increasing number of patients with fewer healthcare person nel available. This is the challenge that most research institutes and public health authorities agree awaits us.

INNOVATION

Written by Erik Lillelund

quires a culture where we dare to work in that way. And where employees are not pressured by a zero-error culture, as they are today,« explains Diana Rikna gel, who is head of innovation at Aarhus University Hospital (also known as SkejbyWhileHospital).itmight be harmless to test and experiment with new solutions in other areas, the healthcare sector is heavily regulated for good reasons. Real people’s health is at stake and, worst case sce nario, their lives. But according to many experts, it is precisely the Gordian knot that must be untied if we are to succeed.

With fewer ressources, the health care system must provide more services for more patients in the future. Therefore, we have to standardize innovation, both Rigshospitalet and Skejby Hospital believe.

6 Digital Health 2022

Stronger, faster, better: Can the healthcare system of the future handle the patients of the future?

»Innovation should ideally be so ambitious and unstructured that it can break the existing framework. But it re

Diana Riknagel Head of Innovation at Aarhus University Hospital

Right now, for example, AI predictions of patient absences are being tested at the hospital, which can potentially optimize the system’s resources. But it is important to innovate with consid eration, believes Koerner. Otherwise, it can push the health care framework towards becoming more specialized and fragmented in the constant pursuit of becoming more skilled.

»When you talk about innovation and, for example, artificial intelligence at a diagnostic level, it quickly becomes muddy. Because quality assurance is often very, very difficult. The advantage of innovating logistically is that it is rel atively harmless. In the same way, there is nothing at stake when a workflow is made more efficient or changed,« says Christian Koerner, who is head of digiti zation at Rigshospitalet.

Nevertheless, it is also important to call for repentance. If innovation is to be

come a fixture in the healthcare sector, the work culture also plays a major role.

»The absolutely optimal scenario is one where we can utilize both the will and the ability to innovate the culture of the healthcare system. Imagine if innovation in everyday life at a hospital could help give employees the desire to work in a system that is under pressure like never before,« Riknagel says.

»Right now, the dialogue with the startup environment is not streamlined enough. There is a need for even more clear cohesion between the hospitals and the industry, and this applies especially to startups and SMEs,« Riknagel describes.

The low-hanging fruits

But the challenges do not lie only with the hospitals. Several people in the health field also point out that the many health and life science startups are too spread out and belong to many different

»As a patient, you want to experience that things are connected as much as possible. That the hospital is one unit where the departments are connected and share information smoothly. But if you have one app to do something in one department and another app to do something else in another department, the whole thing quickly becomes very fragmented,« Koerner explains.

clusters and industry organizations. And that hampers the innovation work.

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At Rigshospitalet, the same challenges are felt. Therefore, much of the innova tion work revolves around so-called lowrisk measures, where the legal aspects are easier to lift.

In any case, the risk is there. Many of us will be diagnosed with a chron ic illness in the future, which often involves several different diagnoses and treatment courses, and thus also an even greater need to create better bridges between the departments.

and it can be difficult to see the incentive for the employee,« Riknagel explains.

Scattered actors

In Denmark, we have unique prerequi sites for becoming a leader in the digital health field with a pioneering health tech and life science sector, good research, and a highly digitized population. Abilities and talent oblige us. Denmark has the potential to export solutions to the whole world, but this requires us to think more globally - both for our own and the world’s sake.

Denmark has the potential to play a leading role in solving both our own and the global health challenges. But it requires a greater eye for export and scaling when we develop our solutions locally.

Because the challenges are in many ways universal, and often even bigger abroad. Today, the Danish health tech in dustry is so mature that it can make a big difference - both nationally and in the rest of the world. Although it is a relatively new industry, both the interest, the technol ogy and the investments have developed exponentially in the past few years. Today we have a total of approx. 240 startups in Denmark, all of which are working on developing future healthcare solutions.

But while many have understood that the climate battle is global, something that affects everyone in the world, and something that Denmark has a role in solving, the health challenges are still perceived as something local - something that only pressures Denmark. And that is an approach we should change.

A wareness of the health sec tor’s challenges has grown in the past few years. And that is positive. Most have recog nized that it is simply not possible to find enough doctors and nurses to solve the health sector’s shortage of staff. Instead, systematic innovation and new technol ogy are needed.

Sponsored: This article is made in cooperation with Health Tech Hub Copenhagen

INNOVATION

Martin Vesterby Health CopenhagenHealthAdoptionTechPartner,TechHub

But in contrast to other sectors, the

We propose that the healthcare sector, instead of developing local products themselves, scans the Danish and global market to see if good solutions have not already been developed within the area. And otherwise develop solutions where national and global is a focus point from the start. As with the climate, we have both a moral obligation to contribute to solving the global challenges, but also good business opportunities.

We must dare to think globally when we solve health challenges locally

Jesper Grønbæk CEO & Founder, Health Tech CopenhagenHub Health Tech Hub Copenhagen:

health tech area is deeply dependent on well-functioning public-private col laborations. Most of our healthcare is managed by the public sector and our decentralized health system often results in locally developed technical solutions that are rarely widespread throughout Denmark and even more rarely benefit other people in the world.

Equity investments into Danish health tech startups Source: Health Tech Hub Copenhagen (cumulative)DKK)(m2019sinceraisedValue 300020001000 2019 2020 2021 2022 2319.3 mDKK 2570.5 mDKK 781.4 mDKK 196.9 mDKK Top 3 investments 1 Lenus eHealth 387 mDKK Q2 2021 2 Liva Healthcare 185 mDKK Q1 2021 3 Q2180MedtracemDKK2021 Source: Health Tech Hub CopenhagenSource: Health Tech Hub Copenhagen employeesofNumber 10005001500 2019 2020 2021 employees2036202220002500 employees1827 employees1126Employeesemployees606 in Danish health tech startups Number of users reached by HTHC solutions usersofNumber 1 million 2 million 3 million 2019 2020 2021 2022 2.443.084 2.681.945 324.092 1.603.261 Danish health tech startup ecosystem Source: Health Tech Hub Copenhagen

In the future, the doctor’s bag will carry robots, apps and artificial intelligence HEALTHCARE 2.0

train. That amount can often be 1-2 hours a day, depending on the patient, and it is actually reminiscent of being an elite athlete. It would be extremely exhausting for a professional to be responsible for, but with ‘Robert’ we see that the patient takes ownership of their own rehabilita tion more quickly and thus also recovers faster,« Thorsen explains.

robot solution, the bill can be halved – and often more than that.

The idea arose in 2014, when founder and engineer Lasse Thomsen heard of his wife’s work challenge when, as a nurse, she had to make heavy lifts on a daily basis in relation to the rehabilitation of patients. He therefore decided to develop a robotic solution. In other words: ‘Robert’ was»Rehabilitationborn. really makes a difference when patients themselves work with the muscles. So when the staff previously, for example, lifted an arm or a leg 10-20 times twice a day, it was extremely exhausting for them, but it was also a very ineffective way of rehabilitation,« says Keld Thorsen, director of LifeScience Robotics.

»In the past, people have underesti mated both the effect and the intensity with which the person in question has to

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Keld Thorsen CEO of RoboticsLifeScience

Today, approximately 15,000 Danes are affected by blood clots each year. That costs approximately DKK 2.03 billion in rehabilitation and care, according to the Danish Health Authority. But with the

»The biggest saving is in care, because you get to a point faster where you can fend for yourself. And that not only has an impact on the costs, but also on the patient’s quality of life,« the CEO explains.

Many of the solutions are already avail able in clinics and hospitals today. One of them is the rehabilitation robot ‘Robert,’ developed by Aalborg-based LifeScience Robotics. The robot both relieves the bur den in the rehabilitation of e.g. paralyzed blood clot and spinal cord patients, and enables the healthcare staff to define the movement patterns and processes that the person in question must go through. After that, ‘Robert’ takes the heavy load with the physical lifts.

Today, it is known that effective rehabil itation of the muscles after, for example, a blood clot or a stroke requires up to 500600 repetitions. Every day. In addition, the robotic solution can be set to ten different degrees of resistance, so that the patient is able to perform active muscle work as soon as possible and not just be passively lifted around.

Today, 12 health institutions have acquired a ‘Robert’. But the ambition of LifeScience Robotics is, in addition to the large markets in the USA, Germany, France, and Japan in particular, that al most every municipality in Denmark has the robot solution.

Written by Erik Lillelund

In the near future, the healthcare system is challenged with having fewer hands to provide a wider range of services to more patients. That calls for new technological solutions. And the doctor’s toolbox is developing faster than ever before.

s the challenges in the future healthcare sector pile up, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: Conventional healthcare is facing a technological revolution, and doctors and nurses will, to a far greater extent than before, have an everyday life in the company of robots, artificial intelli gence and data driven devices.

»A doctor cannot be an expert in ev erything. Therefore, there will often be cases where the patient simply receives the most general form of treatment, and not a personalized treatment for their illness. Diabetes is a complex disease to treat, particularly in the late stages of the course and will vary greatly from person to person,« explains Daniel Gewecke Dau gaard, founder and CEO of Dawn Health.

12 Digital Health 2022

Need medicine? Here is an app

»It is important that we not only make the health sector more efficient, but also upgrade the treatment methods. Technology must raise the quality of everything we do. Conversely, it requires an in-depth certification of medical software via authorized bodies – primar ily with a view to deliver safe patient processes supported by technology. For example, an app-powered heart monitor must never fail. In addition to clinical studies, in the future we must also have a strong focus on evidence from the real world to increasingly validate the effect

As a patient, you sometimes expect that the doctor knows everything about every thing, and can cure diseases, defects and the like on the spot. That is not the case, of Butcourse.perhaps the expectation will be ful filled in the future. Because when health care is combined with technology, the result can be significant breakthroughs. One of them is the health software com pany Dawn Health, which specializes in developing software as medical equip ment - and as the world’s leading provid er in the field, the company is naturally approved and certified.

The need for treatment only grows. Ap proximately 280,000 people in Denmark have diabetes and worldwide approx. 463 million adults (aged 20-79) live with the disorder. In 2045, that number will have risen to 700 million, and in most places today it is already a decidedly public healthWithconcern.themultitude of different origins, cultures, dietary traditions and genetic predispositions, the Diabetes Journey app is designed with the idea that treatment should be as personalized as possible. The healthcare professional simply has to enter a series of relevant information and personal goals, after which the soft ware makes recommendations for the treatment.»Tounderstand the app structure, you have to imagine an inverted bonzai tree. The more layers of data the doctor reviews about, for example, medical complications, financial challenges, heart disease or intolerance, the more personalized and sophisticated the treat ment becomes thanks to our decision support software called Bonzai,« Gewecke Daugaard says.

pressure in the pulmonary arteries). But the solutions must be seen as part of a larger development within digital health.

In close collaboration with a Danish pharmaceutical giant, Dawn Health is developing the Diabetes Journey app, which, using artificial intelligence, will assist and upgrade general practitioners’ treatment of patients with diabetes.

Daniel Gewecke Daugaard Founder and CEO of Dawn Health

But here the founder is not talking about apps that can undocumentedly count hours awake in front of a screen or count the calories in the patient’s dinner. To a greater extent, it will be software that has achieved so-called DTx certifi cation, which means that the solution is approved for patient-oriented treatment.

Dawn Health’s product range includes medical apps that treat fertility and sperm quality, schizophrenia and pul monary arterial hypertension (increased

Dawn Health is the world leaders in developing software as medical equipment

HEALTHCARE 2.0

»I am convinced that software as med ical device (SaMD) will become a meg atrend. It is still the doctor who makes the decision, but we will see more and more digital solutions that support and upgrade the complex treatment process es in particular,« the entrepreneur says.

Long term, the people behind the Dan ish startup hope to get further into the healthcare sector and become an integral part of the healthcare staff’s toolbox. The ambition is, among other things, to be able to support both medium and low-critical diagnoses.»Thedream is to be able to help much earlier in a treatment process - before symptoms become acute. With Corti, we would like to reach a place where artifi cial intelligence can help to predict. For example, the risk of developing an acute illness in a patient, when the patient visits general practice, instead of only being able to help when the illness has occurred and the emergency response moves out. We as sist our customers in more than 25 million patient consultations each year, but we hope we will be allowed to cover up to 100 million consultations within a few years,« the entrepreneur says.

Corti was founded in 2016 by Lars Maaløe and Andreas Cleve and, in col laboration with Emergency Response (Capital Region), has researched how arti ficial intelligence can support emergency centres. This has led to an AI engine that analyzes patterns in the patient’s voice and breathing and alerts if a cardiac ar rest is underway. It has been shown to be able to reduce the number of undetected

agnosis right away, but an early diagnosis will inevitably be characterized by assess ments and estimates. Here, artificial intel ligence can listen in on patient consulta tions, find patterns, write medical records and support the healthcare professionals in their assessments - and ultimately help save lives, as we have seen with the emer gency services,« says Andreas Cleve, CEO and co-founder of Corti.

»As patients, we often expect a perfect di

The Danish Startup Corti has developed a sound-based artificial intelligence engine that sup ports the healthcare staff during patient consultations

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»The way the market looks today, I think that the biggest application possibilities for artificial intelligence in the short term lie where we don’t see them. In administration, invoicing, journaling and all the operational stuff - where the most data is already avail able. The interesting thing will then be whether in the future we will continue to be more concerned about breaches of the GDPR than about the human lives that artificial intelligence could potentially have helped to save. We have to fight if we want artificial intelligence out of the back room and into practice. Especially if it is to come from Denmark and Europe and not from Asia,« Cleve says.

The Corti founder has no doubt that we have only witnessed artificial intelli gence’s first steps in the healthcare sector and believes that in the near future it will permeate the entire field.

of our focus areas in the health indus try,« Gewecke Daugaard says.

cardiac arrests by more than 50 percent and Corti is currently being used in emer gency departments across Europe, USA and»CortiAustralia.isbuilt on the basis of several research projects from Europe, USA and Australia. Through our research, we have been allowed to test our artificial intel ligence on more than 15 million patient consultations and thus trained it to achieve a deep understanding of how pa tients describe both good and bad symp toms,« Cleve explains.

The right diagnosis in a split second Artificial intelligence has become a buzz word here, there and soon everywhere. But where in some areas it may seem like an airy concept, in other areas it can mean the difference between life and death.

This is the case for the Danish start up Corti, which is behind a sound-based artificial intelligence engine that sup ports the healthcare staff during patient consultations at the emergency centres. The AI-powered software listens in on calls, writes notes, searches databases and compares symptom descriptions with other patients, so that the patient receives optimal treatment as quickly as possible.

tal health technologies. From smoking cessation and improving healthier habits to reducing relapse in addiction and con trolling stress and emotional wellbeing. Significant results are today noticed from companies – like insomnia app sleep.io –can be used to prevent and as a first line intervention.

14 Digital Health 2022

Aglobal zero-sum game and unsustainable as single solution. The shortage of healthcare staff is ever increasing globally while the professional appeal is slowly decreasing. In 2022 alone, in Denmark the enrollment in nurs ing studies fell by 18% compared to 2019.

A vast array of evidence is underlining the personal health gains from using digi

Not the least, builders must ensure that evidence, ethics and usability are at the core of every solution. In Denmark we need to establish a tighter relation and work in co-active public-private partnerships and build what is need ed. Unburdening health professionals, empowering people and communities, increasing health and high, long term health impact must be our core pillars. Most of all, we have a duty not to waste any time ourselves: we must prioritise adopting and scaling what already works.

Globally, 60% of all deaths are related to lifestyle and preventable disease. Mak ing health tech a more significant part of the solution requires the right factor conditions as much as maturity of solutions. Specifically:

• Reimbursement. A clear path to reim bursement similar to the German DiGa or the Belgian mHealth Validation Pyramid is crucial for long term adoption

Health Tech as a medium Discovery’s early partnership with Apple - where insurance customers could ‘pay’ for a smartwatch by reaching monthly activity goals was groundbreaking. Since then, health tech has matured signifi cantly. It offers a much wider range of in terventions that – in our view – must be tried and expanded. to make prevention addressable in the long run.

costs in multiple areas. We take neuro degenerative diseases and Alzheimers as example. An early detection of Alzhei mers signs could lead to interventions that delay its onset and the time in assisted living. Once in assisted living, health tech solutions can predict and prevent falls and reduce the monitoring burden on staff while ensuring a better, undisturbed quality of life for the care home residents. Today – there are work ing solutions for all these area, albeit sparsely used.

The medical world has reached its first unanimous consensus: our health systems are overburdened. Yet, our solutions have been somewhat standard and unimaginative, circling around ‘we need to hire more people’.

One of the major ar eas to address in un burdening the health system is the promotion of health and prevention of disease. Any isthepolicythelesspayventiondisease-preventioneffectiveinterwillofcourseonlyoffinthelongrun,butneverneedstobethefocusofhealthplanningtoensureitssuccess.mainfocusinthisopinionpiecepreventionthroughhealthtechnologies.

• Standards. With new ways of gathering data and measuring outcomes and different risk standards need to be clear and tailored to health tech as a new class of medical interventions.

• Health tech education. On all levels – beyond medical school – taught for the benefit of the population

In-system prevention

Health tech can assist healthcare staff and have a positive impact on long term

Who’s paying?

Out of system prevention

HEALTHCARE 2.0

Sponsored: This article is made in cooperation with Roche

Prevention through tech - the easiest hard way to unburden the health system

At the same time, the company has es tablished a network of digital innovation hubs in China, Great Britain, Germany, Brazil, Israel - and more are on the way. The hubs act as links to the local health care ecosystems to create pilot projects, ground-breaking insights and local initiatives that can revolutionize, disrupt and innovate the healthcare system. And ultimately scale globally.

»We have designed new collaboration models that help us test and learn at an accelerated pace to drive revolutionary, digital solutions forward. With our new strategy, we are gradually moving more towards digital holistic healthcare. But our purpose is still the same, just with a bigger digital toolbox: To improve patients’ lives with the best possible healthcare solutions,« Matt Dugan says.

With a new global venture, Novo Nordisk is at the forefront of the digital health revolution

Matt Dugan Director of Innovation at Novo Nordisk

Sponsored: This article is made in cooperation with Novo Nordisk

»In order to succeed in the medium and long term, we need to collaborate and es tablish digital partnerships with many of the innovative startups in the world. The key to that is our local innovation hubs. Through them, we accelerate companies, co-create revolutionary healthcare solu tions and connect the right actors with our business units,« Matt Dugan says.

The new digital strategy transforms all parts of the company - from research and development of new treatments to improving both production and financial processes, either by optimizing, expand ing or exploring new digital opportunities.

The local startups also benefit from the business expertise, Novo Nordisk as a lead ing pharma company has. Through the digital unit, ‘Business Innovation Garage’, startups can present pilot projects, estab lish external partnerships or come up with so-called ‘moonshot ideas’ that can disrupt healthcare sectors worldwide. world. Then Novo Nordisk contributes a combination of data, expertise and mentorship and helps scale digital solutions worldwide.

Technology, apps and data have really made its way into healthcare. With them,

Disrupting value chains, local innovation hubs and co-creation with startups. That is just a few of the many measures Novo Nordisk’s new worldwide digital strategy initiated to strengthen the company’s purpose and create even better digital health solutions in the future.

they carry an almost unimaginably great potential to change to improve people’s lives and health. Therefore, Novo Nor disk has launched a new global digital strategy, which will ensure even better healthcare solutions in the future.

»The healthcare system, clinical staff, patients and citizens are all working together to change and shape the collective expectations for new digital solutions in healthcare systems worldwide. We at Novo

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Nordisk would like to be at the forefront of that paradigm shift,« Matt Dugan, Director of Innovation at Novo Nordisk, says.

Because in psychiatry the same basic professional principles as always apply.

Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and smart wearables are just a few of the technologies that are currently push ing psychiatry towards a new era. And the development can potentially both mean new and expanded opportunities and new types of specialization within the mental disciplines.

of Psychiatry in Region Southern Den mark and researches and implements digital solutions on a daily basis to sup port the current needs of psychiatry. This also includes development and research projects in collaboration with universi ties, companies, authorities, and the rest of the healthcare system.

Marie FolkerPaldam Director of the Center of Digital Psychiatr

Although the field has, of course, devel oped over time, technology has not really revolutionized the field in the same way it has many others. Until now, that is.

A survey conducted by the Danish Psy chological Association shows that almost a quarter (24 percent) of the total of 1,240 psychologists in Denmark believe that they cannot perform their work properly due to a lack of resources. Additionally, as an adult citizen you have to wait 16.2 weeks on average to be treated by a psy chologist with an external number. The past decade’s increased focus on mental health has left its mark on the sector. And this is where technology comes to play a significant role.

Written by Erik Lillelund

Virtual reality, AI and data:

»Within mental health, treatment is almost always conversation-based. Therefore, there is enormous potential for the new technologies to expand the possibilities of psychiatry in the coming years. The area is entering a new digital paradigm,« explains Marie Paldam Folk er, who is centre manager of the Centre for Digital Psychiatry.

Psychiatry is poised to take quantum leaps in the coming years. New technologies mean huge innovative potential for an area of health that has been overlooked for too long.

hile hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms are gradually con trolled from head to toe by high-tech equip ment for even the smallest interven tions, there are still health areas where digital solutions take up less space.

Mental health is on the brink of a new digital era

The centre was founded in 2013 as part

»Psychiatry will always be relation ship-based, so the digital solutions will not replace the physical, but rather supplement, support and streamline the treatment options as they appear today. Especially the solutions that can be scaled to as many as will use them,« Paldam Folker says.

DIGITAL MENTAL HEALTH

At the Centre for Digital Psychiatry, they are currently exploring the possibil ities within so-called asynchronous

Data is key But the virtual world is just a single piece in a much bigger puzzle. Because in the future it will be possible, to a much greater extent, to combine mental health treatment, which until now has depended on assessments and subjec tivity, with data-based parameters such as endorphin levels, sleep, physical activity, or the like.

The VR company Khora, in collabora tion with Psychiatry Capital Region, has run the Challenge project, which uses VR exposure therapy to treat patients who constantly hear voices. With a VR avatar made from what the patient imagines, the patient, in collaboration

»As a patient, it can be difficult to give an accurate assessment of your behav ior, thoughts or function. But one could easily imagine that smart wearables will eventually be able to map reaction patterns in detail. It would be a major upscaling of data about the patient’s behavior and well-being, which until now has really only been based on the person’s memory. And it can often be inaccurate,« the center manager says.

»As more and more research projects deal with this, we will be able to treat a large number of illness situations through virtual reality. There is great analytical potential in being able to ex pose the patient to situations or scenari os that cause key reactions in relation to the diagnosis,« Paldam Folker says.

»With data and artificial intelligence, we will be able to find predictive pat terns in various disorders. It will be able to give us a completely new understand ing of how psychological challenges arise, how we treat them, and how we prevent them,« she says.

Only the tip of the iceberg Although video- and internet-based initiatives such as telepsychiatry and asynchronous treatment are already changing the field today, newer tech nologies offer even greater perspectives. The use of virtual reality, for example, has opened up completely new possibili ties within psychiatry.

treatment services, where professional ly organized courses give children, young people, and adults help and tools for treating anxiety or depression amongst others. Because it takes place virtually, it can make the treatment more flexible and accessible to the citizen.

The data approach to psychiatry has the potential to open up a completely new and qualified method, where the profes sional gets more tools and a much greater insight into the actual conditions of a pa tient, according to Marie Paldam Folker.

with a psychologist and a voice modu lation module, can meet and talk with their voices in a safe environment. And eventually regain control over the hallu cination disorder.

Written by Sebastian Kjær

A new generation of digital equipment is changing the workflow for laboratory technicians

Robots, automation and greater data collection are entering laboratories. This means faster and more efficient development of, among other things, medicine – and heralds a new era in laboratories.

Automated laboratories:

ACCELERATED PRODUCTION

Flow Robotics is another Danish compa ny that is in the process of automating laboratories. Since their beginning seven years ago, customers from 18 countries have bought the Danish pipetting robot. A robot that, above all, facilitates the work of the laboratory staff, so that they do not suffer physical injuries by hand pipetting for several hours a day - which at the same time increases efficiency.

»Laboratory workers also only have two

researcher in a chalky white, sterile coat, looking focused into a microscope. It has been used time and time again as an illustration of ingenuity and the future. But in reality the laboratories are not always this high-tech.

»Many of the new drugs are produced by microorganisms, and when you have to produce a new medicine, you screen hundreds or thousands of microorganisms and process parameters - and much of that work is done manually in simple shake bottles today,« Toke Faurby explains.

19Powered by ATechSavvy

The company has developed a bioreactor called ShakeReactor, which will replace the traditional shake bottles. And with a combination of new sensor technology and software, laboratory staff will, for example, have the opportunity to con tinuously check the ph value and add nutrients without having to do it manu ally, which would otherwise be the case. This not only means that the laboratory technician does not have to enter the lab oratory on a Sunday to add sugar water to a process. By collecting data and automat ing dispensing throughout the process, the trial becomes more reproducible – which is absolutely crucial when the next block buster drug is to be found.

At Flow Robotics, this means, among other things, that the pipetting robot does not require a visit by a technician to adjust production. It can instead be done by the individual laboratory employee in a simple drag-and-drop system that does not require any coding experience.

»What is most interesting for our cus tomers is that they can measure and col lect data on everything they do. Every time you dispense something, you have logged exactly what it is and when. You have a trace of everything that has happened along the way,« Faurby says.

atSpiro was founded in September 2019, and originates form the Danish Technical University. Since then, the startup has raised investment and initiated collaborations with various companies, and has recently had their first prototype sales go through.

There are already well-established systems on the market that are built for the same processes that atSpiro and Flow Robotics focus on. The difference is that the existing products are more expensive and more specialized. The

new challengers therefore offer a new approach which is more flexible and has a greater focus on software and data throughout the process.

Usability and flexibility

arms, so by getting help from a pipetting robot, they can get a lot more out of their day. And it helps our customers, for exam ple, to give answers more quickly about whether a patient is sick or not,« says Annika Issakson, CEO of Flow Robotics.

He is the co-founder and CEO of the startup atSprio, which was founded because they believe that with more digitization and automation you get better biotech research.

The pipetting robot from Flow Robotics is already available to customers in 18 countries, and the company is betting big on the US.

20 Digital Health 2022

Data has always filled much of the industry. Still, the atSpiro founder predicts that the greater amount of data the new players bring to the table will change the industry.

To make the flow of data fluid and the automation greater, Flow Robotics also collaborates with other suppliers of machines and software.

»We make it easy by having the robot itself recognize what you put on the deck, and when it does, it is reflected in the software immediately using aug mented reality. And then you can easily set up the process through the soft ware,« Issakson explains.

»This means that they get a much better understanding of their organism, and this can ultimately mean the dif ference between whether they can pro duce a given substance or not, because data makes it possible to manage the process even better,« says Toke Faurby and

According to the founder, the explanation for why atSpiro is coming up with its solution now is mainly to be found in technological development. It is only now that the technology is ready for a product where they can push the measurement and battery technologies so far that a mobile system with so much automation is possible.

Annika Issakson CEO of RoboticsFlow

Both atSpiro and Flow Robotics find that the laboratories have accelerated digiti zation and use of data over a wide range. The change does not come from one technological breakthrough or one large supplier of equipment, but from a myr iad of suppliers such as the two Danish startups. The laboratory automation market is expected to rise from $5.63 billion in 2021 to $8.84 billion in 2027. And together, the influx of robotic arms, user-friendly software and increased data collection will have a big impact on the work in the laboratories.

With computer vision and so-called liq uid level detection, which helps the robot to understand how much liquid is in the individual container, Flow Robotics has achieved a user-friendliness that makes it easy to adjust production in a labora tory. Something the young company has already seen several customers make good use of. Among other things, when a worldwide epidemic hit, and the world was in dire need of PCR tests - which lab oratories with the Danish pipetting robot could quickly adapt to.

»Theadds:exciting question is how to get the most out of this data. Especially the big companies already have more data than they can effectively use today, so there is a lot of unused value. We are still at the beginning of finding out how we can use the data – but there is real investment in it, and there is no doubt that it will have a huge impact.«

ACCELERATED PRODUCTION

»Laboratory robots have been around for a long time, but they have been very large and required technicians several days in advance if you wanted to change something. We have taken that away and made it easy for the individual user to iterate and set up new experiments,« Issakson says.

A new era?

»If you ask three laboratory technicians to do samples, there will always be some fluctuations. Robots will not do that; they do the same thing every time, and you therefore remove the uncertainty of the human factor. At the same time, you automatically get a data trail through the entire process. And we are already working with partners to integrate our solutions so that even more parts of the laboratory can be automated,« says Anni ka Issakson from Flow Robotics.

Roland Kurney Country Manager of TAKEDA in Denmark

In the future, collaboration across large healthcare companies, innovative startups, and public institutions will be essential if complex healthcare challenges are to be solved. Fortunately, Denmark has all the prerequisites to succeed.

TAKEDA & Health Tech Hub Copenhagen:

But today the health landscape is more complex, the actors more specialized, and

the amount of data larger and spread across many different authorities. There fore, in the future, we will have to work across companies, startups and public institutions to a much greater extent in order to drive both health and innovation forward. No one can do it alone.

In the same way, Danish health data is world-class and represents unimag inable possibilities in relation to public and private research, innovation, and development. For the benefit of patients in Denmark as well as throughout the world.

has all the right prerequisites: A strong healthcare system, highly qualified staff, dedicated patient organizations, a willingness to invest in innovation, and not least skilled entrepreneurs – both in hospitals and in companies. Components that together constitute a unique innova tion potential for Denmark.

In Denmark, we have a unique poten tial in the health field. This applies not least to the areas where Takeda is active - rare diseases, ADHD and gastroenterol ogy. But it requires us to work together if it is to be redeemed, and we would like to hear from those of you who want to join the journey.

Collaboration is key to health solutions of the future

Sponsored: This article is made in cooperation with Takeda

Once upon a time, large companies could drive development all by themselves.

We at Takeda and Health Tech Hub Copenhagen will, in partnership, take the lead in building a healthcare eco system that is driven by the common purpose of improving citizens’ health, patient experiences, and the efficiency of the healthcare system. That is why we search for all the innovative and collab orative opportunities that exist in the many talented Danish startups.

It requires, among other things, the implementation of one common national structure for data, one access point and one standard for approval of innovation projects. We should also es tablish an innovation fund for health care that invests in new innovations and digital solutions.

It is therefore important to create an understanding that partnerships and joint innovation projects can lead to a better health system for everyone. Fortunately, the Danish ecosystem

But there is still a need to improve the opportunities for collaboration between private and public stakeholders.

22 Digital Health 2022

n the startup world, the road from idea to action is short. Today, it takes a few minutes to set up a business, and a few clicks to build an associat ed website. But in the healthcare field, the development of new solutions often requires years of clinical studies, and if the funds do not extend to an entire legal department, many young companies give up before they even get started.

SURVIVING REGULATION

Ongoing feedback

Optoceutics, a spin-out from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and UC Berkeley, is behind a non-inva sive, therapeutic and brain stimulating lamp for the treatment - in the long

How do you survive the regulatory jungle?

But perhaps there is a way to get through the sea of EU clauses and regulations.

Written by Erik Lillelund

classes of the same product,« says Mar cus Carstensen, co-founder and technical director of Optoceutics.

»The advantage of the way we have approached it is that we continuously

»Quite concretely, you can take two paths when developing low-risk medi cal equipment: the market path and the heavy clinical path. We have done both, both launching our class 1 medical device EVY LIGHT, which is approved for brain stimulation, on the market while run ning long clinical studies with a poten tial class 2a medical device for approval for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. So we work quite obsessively with two

term - of e.g. Alzheimer’s disease. So far, the solution is only approved for brain stimulation and not for the treatment of diseases. But researchers from the elite university MIT have already demonstrat ed a possible effect on mice.

While several health startups fear being slowed down by the heavy legislation surrounding medical devices, the Danish startup Optoceutics has found a path through the regulations with a market version of their therapy lamp that could potentially revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the Danish startup, the challenge and the long, tough move towards creating clinical evidence is seen as something positive.

Until the crucial clinical studies for humans are completed, the company has therefore entered the market with their brain-stimulating and CE-approved lamp. That way they can make money while they develop.

The Danish startup Optoceutics has perhaps found a viable way through the regulation jungle in Health Tech

receive feedback from our customers. This way, we will be left with a better product when we have potentially launched the lamp for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in the future, if the evidence is strong enough. No one has yet succeeded in getting a medical device approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, but that makes it an even more exciting field of research, because the potential to help a lot of people is so great,« Carstensen explains.

»I think that regulation, standards, and certification are unconditionally a good thing in their basic form. But it is clearly challenging, and helping startups with this process probably also deserves more focus,« Carstensen says.

eyes and up to the brain. Similar devic es have been unbearable to use for long periods of time, but Ph.D. and co-founder of Optoceutics, Ngoc Mai Nguyen, in col laboration with Marcus Carstensen, has found a way to mask the flashing light so that the eyes can find rest, while preserv ing the effect on the brain.

It is a common thought that the people behind Optoceutics are not exactly fans of the many regulatory agencies that ultimately control the company’s fate. But that is not the case. Rather the contrary.

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Regulation is not a bad thing

For young companies, the burden of proof can be fatal to development. And it ultimately ends up favoring larger companies that can afford an entire legal department.»It’salotof work to get used to. I’ve spent four years understanding how the medical regulations and the national legislation work, and today a full-time employee in the field supplements this. In addition, we have approx. four full-time engineers in the company who actively contribute with a large part of the docu mentation, as well as cooperation with certified test houses to ensure that safety is in order. However, it can be difficult as a startup in the beginning. So, if you don’t find a way to help the smaller compa nies, you will leave them with almost no resources. And that would be a shame,« says the Optoceutics co-founder.

Optoceutics is largely funded by angel investors. And it is fortunate: In connec tion with the evidence, the startup has, at the time of writing, drawn up 406 legal documents, the longest of which is over 5,000 pages long. Even so, the Danish startup does not expect to be ready with approval from the authorities until 7-8 years from now. At least.

Optoceutics, a spin-out from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and UC Berkeley, has developed therapeuticnon-invasive,aand brain stimulating lamp for the Alzheimerstreatment(possible)of

The solution acts as a kind of non-inva sive pacemaker for the brain. The signal from the strobe light goes through the

But if the process is successful, it will be the first ever approved treatment for Alz heimer’s disease. And then an enormous growth potential awaits.

If a level is too low, you will get advice

The Danish healthcare sector helps the Danes when they become ill. But to Huram Konjen, CEO of the startup Dianox, that is not good enough. Instead, he and his team wants to improve the health of the Danes before they become ill with help from saliva samples and dieticians.

he startup Dianox is busy right now. In a short matter of time the product that they have worked on for so long is going to launch. The product is planned to help prevent its users from getting ill.

An effort before it is too late

Huram plans to sell subscriptionbased prevention to the Danes

tes - before it occurs.

Dianox will do so with the help from saliva samples. That sample can provide answers which only doctors were able to provide earlier on after making a blood sample. But now Dianox can do the same by analyzing saliva and the results from the test will for instance show you hormone- and vitamin levels. In the future the plan is to test for the risk of more normal diseases like diabe

When the laboratory receives the result from the test it is communicated to the user online. Here you will also have ac cess to a dietitian that can give advice on how to ensure the ideal level of vitamin and hormones.

Huram Konjen CEO, Dianox

Hormones and vitamins levels are something that few people get tested today. And if they do, there is probably a reason why it needs to be checked. But according to Huram Konjen, it should be possible for everyone to get the test.

Sponsored: This article is made in cooperation with Danish Life Science Cluster

“It was very valuable for us and that type of help is essential to get a good start,” he adds. Dianox is also a member of Danish Life Science Cluster, where companies can get access to knowledge from universities and companies to help get new knowledge in play.

Huram is a health tech startup specializing in health checks through saliva samples.

“This solution is something that has the potential to solve problems across borders if it becomes a success. In that perspective it’s wonderful to receive attention from a big player like Haleon,” says Konjen.

New solutions within the healthcare system are also a focus area for the WHINN-conference, where this article will be available for the attendants. Here one track will focus on disruption of the health care system and how to put the individual in center of the system.

“Our goal is that our users are just as healthy when they’re 80 as when they were 20,” says Konjen, who will launch the product in the near future.

on how to raise the level again. This will prevent that a low level of for instance vitamin D evolves to a bigger problem in the future.

from other actors in the life science envi ronment. Haleon, which is the consumer company of big pharma-players like Pfizer and GSK, has incorporated Dianox into their Health Studio which has given the startup better possibilities to scale to solution to other nations in the world.

big difference. That’s the type of small adjustments that we will help people to implement into their lives.”

What makes this product unique is that Dianox can test a variety of different levels through saliva, and that makes it possible to sell the product directly to the users because it is simple to use. It will cost 99 kroner per month, and that price level is intended to attract a Danish audience which is not accustomed to pay for health with money from their own pocket.

Great help from generous people

To reach the point where the company is at today, they needed to research a big number of scientific articles. And that has required help from the life science environment.“Thepeople in the life science envi ronment are incredibly generous. At one point we researched a lot into infection diseases, and I spoke for a long time with a leading scientist in Hepatitis B who gave me a lot of advice and send me a lot of articles,” Konjen tells.

it’s very little things you need to change to ensure that your body is in balance. Don’t look at your phone as the first thing in the morning. Drink a glass of cold water and stretch your body. If you do so, you’ll experience a

Small adjustment with big gain The goal with the company is that peo ple no longer have to be worried when talking about their health.

“If you use our product, you’ll have insights into some of the most essential levels in your body, and our hope is that that will give a sense of calm for people,” he“Normallysays.

Dianox’ idea has attracted attention

“I think the Danish healthcare system helps its citizens too late in the process. There is too little focus on prevention. The harm is done when the citizens get help from the system. With our solution we can act before the problem occurs,” says CEO of Dianox, Huram Konjen.

The corona crisis has kicked off a new wave of investment in future technologies and digital solutions within health. But legislation risks halting development, experts predict.

Written by Erik Lillelund

And the development is highly visible. Globally, a total of $57 billion was in vested in health technology in 2021 — a 280 percent increase compared to 2016, according to research firm CB Insights.

»How do you regulate something you have never seen, heard or tried before?« Health investments are booming, but investors want better legislation: INVESTMENT

»Because an investment potentially can make a big difference, it is important to get scientific evidence for the effect of a solution. The professional foundation is perhaps even more important in this area than in others, where the technolo gy is what primarily creates value,« explains Tony Cheng-fu Chang, Senior Business Developer at the Bio Innovation Institute Foundation (BII) - an interna tional non-profit life science fund sup-

lthough the corona crisis brought many sectors to their knees and society to a standstill, it was also a catalyst for new trends. In particular, it has meant a massive wave of investment in digital health, where remote culture, vaccine development and no physical presence have brought renewed focus on developing the health solutions of the future.

Globally, $57 billion was invested in health technology in 2021 — a 280 percent increase compared to 2016

And if you ask one of the people behind it, the pandemic’s increased focus on health has only given investors more incentive to develop solutions that may have a major impact on the world.

26 Digital Health 2022

comes to products or competences.

»Denmarkbelieves.hasone of the most digitized health systems in the world, where many parts of our lives are data-driven. This makes it extremely attractive for healthtech startups to initiate pilot projects and find Danish partners. The problem is simply that the technology and the platform built for the Danish system cannot necessarily be scaled, because the level of regulation and digitization is so significantly different in the rest of the world,« Carlsen explains.

It is the people behind it, and not the product, that must ensure that a compa ny is successful in the long term.

»The challenge is that companies often introduce a completely new paradigm. And how do you regulate something you have never seen, heard or tried before? It is an eternal dilemma, because the regulatory institutions also exist for society’s sake. At the same time, it can be resource-intensive for a company to even be allowed to launch a pilot project,« Tony Cheng-fu Chang describes.

»Even though I have a heavy technical background, I always find specialists who help me assess a company’s potential. This is because the area is so complex that you hinder yourself if you think that you as an investor can understand everything. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on how the industry is generally regulated and the commercial opportunities, rather than the technical details,« Carlsen explains.

ported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Although Denmark is in many ways at the forefront of development when it comes to digital health, it is not all fun and games. For the legislation and the regulatory bodies, it sometimes becomes an inappropriate obstacle when the companies’ solutions open up hitherto unknown terrain, the investors say.

Christian Carlsen Full-time angel investor specializing in healthtech and life science startups

However, the solution itself is not always the most important parameter. If the profiles in the company are well put together, investors can trust that the startup itself will make up for any shortcomings that may arise when it

»You should not underestimate the genius of people. It often makes sense to invest based on the knowledge that the team is innovative. If you can imagine a future with the company, that’s a good sign,« Tony Cheng-fu Chang adds.

The trend also means that Denmark as a country risks becoming less attractive to launch new projects in, Christian Carlsen

The Danish ‘but’

27Powered by TechSavvy

Do not underestimate people

»As an early stage angel investor you often have to look beyond the founders’ lack of knowledge. Healthtech startups often develop breakthrough technologies or platforms that no one has tried be fore. It is therefore difficult to know ev erything about regulation and the com mercial opportunities from the start. But if the founder team, on the other hand, listens and understands that they cannot and do not know everything, it is not a problem,« Carlsen says.

Tony ChangCheng-fu Senior DeveloperBusinessatthe Bio Innovation FoundationInstitute

And that point resonates. As an inves tor, one of the most important things is to understand the basis and expertise behind the product when investing in the heavily regulated healthcare area, believes Christian Carlsen, who has many years of experience from Novo Nordisk and today works full-time as an angel investor specializing in healthtech and life science startups.

LillelundRESEARCH

Usually the university has the rights to progress made under the auspices of work. Therefore, every year the Tech

Written by Erik

lthough we develop new solutions, types of medi cine and treatments every year, the challenges we face change just as quickly. In the near future, an aging demographic, significantly more patients with chronic diseases, and higher expectations for the extent of healthcare services await. All of these health megatrends will have to be solved by technology, states Danske Regioner in a new report. Therefore, there is a need for a strong connection between the universities and businesses. That mission is already on the minds of many. One of them is the Tech Trans Office at the University of Copenhagen, which works to ensure that the university’s inventions and revolu tionary research benefit society in the best possible »Commercializationway. must not become a buzzword at the universities. On the contrary: It’s a way to ensure that good research actually gets out and is used in society,« explains Niels Lysholm Engel hard, Senior Commercial Officer at the Tech Trans Office.

We have to encourage researchers to alternate between university life and entrepreneurship, if we are to solve the resource challenges in the health sector in the future, several expert organizations believe.

Niels EngelhardLysholm Senior Commercial Officer at the Tech Trans Office at The University of Copenhagen

The bridge between research and business has never been more important

Thomas Riisgaard Hansen Director of the universitiesbetweenacentreresearchDIREC,collaborationtheDanish

Trans Office receives between 75-80 reviews from researchers, PhD students, and associate professors regarding in ventions or research results, and on this basis submits approximately 25 patent applications with the intent to estab lish a business with external actors and investors.»Asaninstitution, we are set up to ensure that the solutions developed at the university are used in society. This is also why we never sell patent rights, but license them out. This means that we re tain control over whether a new technol ogy comes out and makes a difference,« explains Niels Lysholm Engelhard. And it is precisely the societal differ ence and the newfound focus on health technology that the pandemic brought with it that has sharpened the attention of many investors around the sector.

»In recent years, investors - especially in the biotech area - have become more interested in entering projects early. To them, it makes the most sense to invest in solutions with the greatest economic potential, not necessarily the most benefi cial in terms of health on a societal level. But we are unfortunately not in control of the commercial dynamic, only subject to it,« Lysholm Engelhard says.

»Compared to other places such as the US, we lack people in the research world who have set up a business themselves and tried it so many times that they can assess any PhD project

Most forecasts right now show that the rising number of elderly people will significantly increase healthcare costs, and together with a longer average life expectancy, this will put pressure on the healthcare system. In the future, this will require far more resources than before, and therefore it is probably also evident that technological development plays a central role.

It requires us as a country to be better at fostering entrepreneurship and encour aging researchers to help commercialize their inventions or results themselves. This is the opinion of Thomas Riisgaard Hansen, director of the research cen ter DIREC, a collaboration between the Danish universities that aims to support, facilitate, and run world-class digital

Two sides of the same coin

research. And ensure that it is redeemed in the interests of society.

»In the Danish university world, an academic career has traditionally been more well-regarded than, for exam ple, using your research in a startup. It is getting better, but there is still a tendency to ‘choose a side,’ which is not conducive to digital health innovation,« RiisgaardInstead,says.youhave to look across the Atlantic if you want to understand the prerequisites for a successful ecosys tem and a good relationship between research and business.

whether this solution could become a business out in society. This is the way to ensure that you continuously inno vate,« Riisgaaard explains.

However, development is already underway. In recent years, the univer sities have attached great importance to widespread entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship across institutions, and this is felt, Niels Lysholm Engelhard believes.»There has been greater openness on the part of researchers in recent years. In the past, there were almost no researchers who made spinouts, but currently we are up to 6-7 each year. It shows that the right mentality is spreading. It is part of the university to commercialize. And is actually helping to promote it,« he says.

What role do startups and entrepreneurs play when we have to solve future health challenges with technology?

This is what the futuresystemhealthcareofthelookslike

Expert Panel:

The startup environment is a valuable base for the large international companies in terms of testing and innovation, and the small ones conversely need the muscles of those companies for implementation, scaling, investment and internationalization.

The generation of digitally native adults will demand individually adapted health solutions and digitalisation, treatment at home, and solutions to manage their illness themselves. More will be willing to pay for flexibility in private health insurance, self-paid e-consultations, and data collection wearables as well as apps.

EXPERT PANEL

Which trends and technologies will particularly affect the healthcare system in the next 5-10 years?

This is a risk to the unique Danish health data as it will become eroded if the public loses knowledge and data from one group of patients. This could have consequences for the development of new health solutions.

Robots. Virtual Reality. Artificial intelligence. Many trends are currently taking centre stage in healthcare. But what will be the most important thing? We’ve asked the experts.

Danish startups play a significant role in the future health sector, because their agility is crucial when it comes to cooperating with the large public health sector. Here, startups are often adept at incorporating feedback and then further developing and adapting solutions to demand.

Diana NielsenArsovic CEO, Danish Life Science Cluster

Bodil ReumertChristine Senior Project Lead & UniversityInnovation,Partnerships,StrategicAUHAarhusHospital

We will see far more individualized diagnosis and patient-centred treatment of diseases. There will be more focus on the entire patient journey from prevention to life after a course of illness, e.g. by telemedicine, virtual consultation, self-monitoring, and self-diagnosis via apps.

In order to solve the health challenges of the future, new thinking and change must be created.

We will need more hands in the healthcare system,

What role do startups and entrepreneurs play when we have to solve future health challenges with technology?

Which trends and technologies will particularly affect the healthcare system in the next 5-10 years?

Lars Peter Bech Kjeldsen PhD, Head of Research - Research Centre for Health and Welfare CampusTechnology,AarhusN

Startups have a decisive role when new technolog ical solutions are to be developed, but it must be easier for them to kick in the doors of hospitals. Without it, we are not going to accelerate the healthcare of the future.

What role do startups and entrepreneurs play when we have to solve future health challenges with technology?

The use of artificial intelligence and access to data in real time will enable early diagnosis and improve the individual patient’s treatment course. Predictive models can predict the development of a disease course and decision support tools can optimize the treatment of the individual patient.

Which trends and technologies will particularly affect the healthcare system in the next 5-10 years?

There will continue to be interest in self-monitor ing, data-driven and AI technology. In this way, we can turn citizens into players instead of passive recip ients. We will experience a greater focus on sustain able health solutions. Including sustainable social and economic solutions that prevent, free up resources, and address the many.

Claus Rehfeld COO and board member of Nordic Health Lab

Innovation is needed in the health field both now and in the longer term. There is currently a need to rethink organization and management in the healthcare system. In the future, the tasks must be solved in new ways, which requires a more longterm change in forms of cooperation, work processes, and the development of new welfare-creating technological solutions. An increasingly complex healthcare system needs communication and co-creation systems across sectors, professions, and education. Systems that can also handle data security and mobile objectives.

Which trends and technologies will particularly affect the healthcare system in the next 5-10 years?

Startups and entrepreneurs often have the advan tage that they do not yet know what cannot be done. They try their way, and often solutions emerge in the wake of these attempts. It is therefore crucial that we facilitate their success.

If our healthcare challenges are to be solved, then the new technological solutions must create great value for patients, healthcare staff, and society as a whole. New solutions must reduce the waiting time at hospitals and free up resources for hard-pressed healthcare staff.

Entrepreneurs can solve many of the challenges that the healthcare system itself does not have the resources for. They are innovative and small and agile, and can therefore adapt more quickly to the needs of the healthcare system. Tech startups in particular can free up a lot of resources through everything from recording data and automatic image diagnostic analyzes, to apps that improve patient care and prevent diseases.

so it will be about solutions that free up the staff’s time to focus more on the patient.

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