Kuopio Health Board blog-Mikko Vuoristo -

23.11.2022 | Category: Success stories

The main thing is that we do our best. As long as we persist, we are sure to succeed every now and then.

Good testing opportunities attract companies

Here at Kuopio Health, we have a versatile community with representation from various organisations. To promote effectiveness, we can make Kuopio Health an agile and highly visible development platform in Kuopio.

In addition to the development platform, many may be attracted to the testing opportunities we provide, such as KUH’s ability to carry out clinical trials. This collaboration must result in joint cases that will also attract new companies to the region.

The joint projects could involve testing opportunities related to topics such as care or health technology. Globally, this is a pretty big business and companies will come to where there are great testing opportunities.

We could create impacts in this region by attracting these new companies here while also providing local companies with an opportunity to proceed with their development steps.

Persistence will pay off

For us at Savonia, effectiveness means supporting regional development. This is also laid down in the Universities of Applied Sciences Act. If we manage to promote some company’s activities through Kuopio Health, for example by employing more people or introducing an innovation to the market, we are fulfilling our duty.

We aim to bring about a positive, permanent change in the surrounding society. A challenge emerges because there are also many other contributing factors in society. Companies do not always succeed, even if they are good ones.

When it comes to impacts and effectiveness, we must also bear in mind that no matter how great our profits are, there must be a demand for what we are offering in the surrounding society. Without demand, innovations are sure to fail, even good ones. And when you fail, you will not generate impacts.

The main thing is that we do our best. As long as we persist, we are sure to succeed every now and then.

How do we measure success, then? We want to measure success, but it can be tricky at times and things progress slowly, which causes a delay in the measurements. As a result, we need qualitative indicators for impact assessment.

Experience shows the power of collaboration

As the Vice President of Savonia University of Applied Sciences, my responsibilities include RDI activities and business partnerships. The nature of our work means that we carry out nearly all of our projects in collaboration with others.

We are strongly involved in many other industry-specific ecosystems, some of which have been operating for decades now. Experience has shown that communities are invaluable when the aim is to build partnerships and networks where things get done. Through our RDI lens, they provide a great place for operations.

Although Kuopio Health has only been operating for a few, inarguably globally challenging years, I find that we have what it takes for a long and prosperous collaboration. We’re more likely to create impacts when we work together than if we tried to do it alone.