Presenting Kuopio Health members: Hurja and the possibilities of augmented reality
“Augmented reality will provide a lot of opportunities in health tech in the future.”
Hurja found a partner to its AR project through Kuopio Health
Hurja Solutions, a company operating in the ICT sector, has been involved in the open Kuopio Health innovation ecosystem right from the start. The company was carrying out an extensive project related to augmented reality (AR) and wished to find partners to it. Thanks to Kuopio Health, the company was able to find just the right partner.
– We are always interested in all kinds of networking and discovering business opportunities with new partners. We believe that health tech is an industry where we have a lot to give and there are many opportunities for cooperation. For example, we can provide startups with our special competence in app development. Startups often lack their own resources for this, Vili Härkönen, the company’s CEO, reflects.
Härkönen admits that last year’s unprecedented conditions somewhat limited the utilisation of the Kuopio Health network. Nevertheless, he believes it is down to companies’ personal initiative how well they have taken advantage of the available opportunities.
Härkönen wishes that Kuopio Health will enable Hurja to commercialise its competence and utilise the opportunities brought by the cooperation.
– It would be fantastic if we could make versatile use of this competence that we have so much of within the Kuopio Health network, he says.
Interest in the international market
Hurja Solutions operates in the ICT sector. The company provides software development and its services include web and mobile development, AR solutions, websites, UI/UX design and consulting. The company also offers service maintenance solutions. Its clients range from startups to listed companies and public sector operators.
Hurja employs around twenty people and its turnover was roughly EUR 1.1 million last year.
Vili Härkönen explains that Hurja strives for growth. One of the growth directions is the international market. In fact, Hurja has made the greatest progress in the market with its health tech clients.
AR opportunities are opening up
Vili Härkönen believes that augmented reality will provide a lot of opportunities in health tech in the future.
– You could say that only your imagination is the limit in what we can do with AR. AR equipment has taken great leaps forward recently. The Microsoft Hololens 2 smart glasses released last summer have brought a lot of opportunities for making most of AR. That world is constantly evolving. In health tech, we can use AR solutions for purposes such as analysing the environment and providing professionals or end users with more information, Härkönen describes his vision.
For example, physicians could obtain patient information directly in their field of vision or rehabilitation patients could receive simultaneous instructions with AR glasses.
– There are lots of opportunities for introducing various sensor data to the world of AR. We can also utilise machine learning and artificial intelligence, all that data that can be processed in a cloud, Härkönen notes.