Presenting Kuopio Health members: Savonia wishes to support companies’ development
“In the best-case scenario, Kuopio Health will get us to a situation that enables us to introduce health tech innovations effectively. I have been frustrated with the fact that it has taken several years for many companies to turn an excellent idea into reality.”
Savonia wishes to support companies’ development
– In the best-case scenario, Kuopio Health will get us to a situation that enables us to introduce health tech innovations effectively. I have been frustrated with the fact that it has taken several years for many companies to turn an excellent idea into reality. At worst, this means that you lose several years, says Petteri Jääskeläinen, Health and Research and Development Manager at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences and leader of the focus area of wellness technology at Savonia.
Product development in health tech takes years and is expensive. According to Jääskeläinen, Savonia can provide companies with a lot of help in this area by offering its perspective and competence to help launching activities.
Even if we cannot quite operate on a ‘one-stop shop’ principle, the aim is to use the network to provide strong and quickly accessible support for companies that are newly-established, intensely growing or developing new solutions.
Jääskeläinen explains that Savonia is already involved in, among other things, the Kuopio Living Lab service, which enables companies in health and welfare technology to test their products in genuine customer and specialist environments.
The Digicenter project carried out by Savonia also provides companies with services that improve digital capabilities, promote testing technology, and enhance networking among companies in the area.
Development projects push companies forward
Savonia University of Applied Sciences is one of the founding members of the open Kuopio Health innovation ecosystem.
– Regional development is our duty, also under law. We contribute to creating new services and solutions and develop the region together with other operators. This is strongly carried out through development projects, Jääskeläinen says.
He notes that all development organisations in the region wish that the local business life is doing well and companies have good growth opportunities.
Savonia is also strongly connected to the open Kuopio Health innovation ecosystem in that wellness technology is one of the focus areas determined in the Savonia strategy. Jääskeläinen notes that developing wellness technology requires diverse competence. Indeed, the education provided at Savonia covers an extensive range of social welfare and health care studies as well as education in technology.
The R&D projects carried out in wellness alone amount to between EUR 1.5 and 2 million.
Accomplishing more together
Petteri Jääskeläinen reminds us that sharing competence benefits everyone. Establishing a new company is a hugely extensive endeavour that needs to be supported from multiple directions. Money alone is not enough – there is also need for competence.
– There is excellence and a vast amount of experience in this region. Kuopio Health can support sharing the excellence with those who need it. This requires mutual dialogue and building trust. Accomplishing more together may sound like a worn-out phrase, but this is actually how it is!