Business Finland Co-creation funding to e-FINGERS project seeking new sustainable solutions for early diagnostics of memory disorders
Business Finland has granted Co-creation funding for the University of Eastern Finland and the e-FINGERS project. The aim of the Co-creation phase is to build a network of collaborations between academic partners and companies.
e-FINGERS aims to develop new and more sustainable approaches to identify people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Based on the FINGER study (Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability) this project aims, together with industry collaborators, to find novel approaches to promote brain health. The aim is to proceed to Co-Innovation funding, which would allow for an actual innovation project for 2-3 years. The project is coordinated by Neurocenter Finland, Associate Professor Alina Solomon of the University of Eastern Finland is the Principal Investigator and Annalaura Jokiniemi is the Project Coordinator.
The results of the FINGER study are impressive. It is the first randomised controlled trial to show that a multimodal lifestyle-based intervention can improve or maintain cognitive functioning among older people at risk for dementia (Ngandu et al 2015). So far, the only effective way to prevent cognitive decline is to follow a multimodal lifestyle intervention affecting several cognitive areas: overall cognition, memory functions, and processing speed.