Innovative digital solutions for increased efficiency in the health sector

Business Finland launched a new health and wellbeing program, Health 360 Finland, on June 18, 2024. The program will accelerate the adoption of new digital solutions to strengthen the health sector and its exports. Tarja Enala, M.Sc. (Biochemi), has been appointed as the head of the program

Tarja Enala started as the head of the Health 360 Finland program on August 1, 2024.

"I’m excited to collaborate with program teams, customers, health companies, universities, wellbeing counties, investors and other stakeholders. Together we have a tremendous opportunity to innovate and create new digital health products and services for global markets," says Enala.

The Health 360 Finland program supports Finnish companies in developing and commercializing globally competitive solutions to tackle worldwide challenges in the health sector. The program promotes multidisciplinary public-private partnerships and cultivates ecosystems and pilot environments. The program also offers extensive interdisciplinary and international networking and collaboration opportunities.

Harnessing data and digitalization to promote health

The health sector is currently facing significant challenges due to an aging population, rising healthcare costs, and worsening labor shortages.

"I believe that new technologies and service models can address the challenges confronting the health sector. The Health 360 Finland program will specially accelerate the adoption of digital solutions, including artificial intelligence and robotics, to enhance efficiency in the health sector. This will boost exports of companies in the industry and attract new investments to Finland," says Tarja Enala.

The health sector is also attracting new companies from other industries, such as IT. This provides an impressive platform for the development of innovative digital solutions.

"In Finland, we gather a significant amount of health-related data, which could be leveraged more effectively to tackle challenges in the health sector and develop new treatments. The use of health data is gaining interest across Europe and globally, presenting substantial business opportunities for Finnish companies," Enala says.

The program aims, among other things, to fund companies' R&D projects with 20 million euros annually, totaling 85 million euros by the end of 2028. It also seeks to establish several multidisciplinary joint projects between research organizations and companies. Additionally, Business Finland provides internationalization services to support these companies.

Healthcare market is growing, Finland has great export potential

The size of the global digital health market was estimated at approximately €204.2 billion in 2023 and is forecasted to reach close to €900 billion by 2025 and grow further at CAGR 21.9% to 2030.

The export of health technology products developed in Finland has grown every year over the past 20 years. Healthtech export from Finland were EUR 2,58 billion at 2023 (excluding pharma) with surplus EUR 1 billion.

Exports to Europe and North America

Based on Healthtech Finland export figures the focused target markets are Europe and North America. Current largest export countries are the United States (856B€), Germany (251M€) and China (139M€).

Europe remains the largest region in the health technology segment with a 42% share. Its importance has increased following the pandemic and the changes in the global geopolitical situation. The largest export markets in Europe have been Germany, the UK, France and the Nordic countries, although some Eastern European countries (Poland) have also grown.

North America is the second largest region, accounting for 36% of total health technology export in 2023 and will remain significant in the future as well.

The program supports the mission

Eeva Salminen, Director of Healthcare Reimagined 2035 Mission at Business Finland, says that the program supports the mission's objectives in relation to preventive health care and in particular, the improvement of health care through the use of data and new technologies.

"During the preparatory phase of Health 360 Finland, two bottlenecks were identified in the health sector, which the program's measures aim to address: strengthening regulatory expertise in digital health companies and increasing private funding (venture capital investments) in start-up and growth companies," says Salminen.

Business Finland’s Healthcare Reimagined 2035 Mission aims to address the global challenge related to population aging, the increase in chronic diseases, and healthcare workforce shortages. The aim is for Finland to become a leader in sustainable healthcare solutions that improve efficiency and focus on disease prevention.

Welcome to the program presentation on August 28

The Health 360 Finland program will be presented to customers and stakeholders on August 28, 2024 at the Healthcare Export Day in Team Finland Hall in Helsinki.
We welcome media representatives. Registration: sanna.nuutila (at) businessfinland.fi.

Welcome to join the program! Read more on the program's website:
Health 360 Finland program 

Tarja Enala, M.Sc.(Biochem), has over 25 years of experience in life sciences, including expert and managing positions in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology startups, technology transfer, international diagnostics, and government organizations. She has driven growth in R&D, business development, marketing, and sales. For 16 years, she was i.a. Life Science Director at technology transfer companies linked to Finnish universities. From 2012 to 2019, she held management positions at PerkinElmer. From 2019 to 2023, she was Acting Head of Industry and Senior Advisor, Health & Wellbeing at Business Finland, driving health-related foreign direct investments into Finland and fostering university-company ecosystems. The last years Enala has worked as Chief Specialist in Innovations and Enterprise Financing at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, responsible for establishing and launching the Finnish Drug Discovery Center Ltd. Today she works as Head of Health 360 Finland Program at Business Finland and continues work in the National Health Sector Growth Program steering group.

Further information

Tarja Enala, Head of Health 360 Finland program
tarja.enala (at) businessfinland.fi
Tel. +358 50 436 1287

Sanna Nuutila, Head of Marketing
sanna.nuutila (at) businessfinland.fi
Tel. +358 50 557 7717