Sitra, Finland’s fund for the future, is an official partner of Terkko Health X 2021.
It is significant that forward looking actors like Sitra are prominently involved in supporting health and life science entrepreneurship in Finland.
We interviewed Johannes Ahlqvist, Sitra’s Health Data 2030 project specialist and Terkko Health X showcase judge on health data, entrepreneurship, and the Terkko Health X 2021 program.
Let’s find out what he has on his mind!
Can you describe the Health Data 2030 project’s goals?
Health Data 2030 has two parallel workstreams. One focuses on EU-level health data policy while the other focuses on Finnish competitiveness. On EU-level, our TEHDAS project creates guidelines, draws up fair rules and builds a bridge for the cross-border use of health data in Europe particularly for health data use in secondary purposes like research. We try find answers for enabling governance models, needed architecture etc. In Finland, our project supports the competitiveness of the Finnish health sector by raising awareness of important aspects of health data, funding of pilots and connecting parties.
What is health data?
Health data is often defined as any information that relates to the health of an individual or to the provision of health services. In the past, health data has been generated mainly in healthcare provision, e.g., in hospitals. We are starting to see more data added to the totality of health data. For instance, wearables and home diagnostics create a novel source of health-related data and in the future shopping habits, environmental data and mobility will become part of health data.
What are the societal benefits of large-scale utilization of health data?
Healthcare costs around 8% to 15% of gross domestic product depending in most European countries. The benefits in healthcare come down to better care at lower costs or better care with same budget. Without data, healthcare remains reactionary sick care. To truly care for health instead of sickness, data is needed. Data and information generated from it is the only way to improve healthcare. Data can improve current workflows, provide new treatments, personalize healthcare for patients, lower resource requirements for specific tasks and improve employee wellbeing to name a few. At the same time, there is more data than ever before. All of it cannot be analysed. We need better ways to manage the data through data standards, analytics, and automation.
Lately we have seen how health data is also needed to keep societies open. Covid passport is health data, and it is mostly used outside healthcare. In general cross-sectoral data use becomes more and more important. In my view the biggest impact will be in the consumerization of health. Health data will open new ways for individuals to understand how environment and living habits impacts their health. I believe we have only scratched the surface of what health data can do for us.
How could startups contribute to the usage of health data and increase competitiveness in the health sector?
If we look at existing data, most of health data is underutilized or even unutilized. Innovative startups have vast opportunities in turning this data into insights. Startups can develop services that are more user-friendly and personalized than the current ones. For instance, recognizing medical conditions before they develop into severe forms from open text fields could help us direct scarce healthcare resources better. If a startup wants to work with healthcare providers, the key is to save resources and time.
What are the biggest challenges for startups and other new concepts regarding the utilization of health data?
First, founding a company is always challenging. Healthcare and health data bring some very specific challenges. Access to data, strict regulation resulting in increased costs and effort, scattered market and change resistance are some of the key difficulties for startups but also for established companies. Releasing unfinished products to markets is a common practice in tech industry, but in healthcare each version and feature need to be robust and tested before their enter to markets. Trust is a must and it is crucial to maintain trust of users and clients (if these are not the same party). On the upside is that once you gain trust and customer base healthcare is usually long term and predictable.
What kinds of solutions do you expect to see from this year’s Terkko Health X program teams?
I hope to see a wide variety of different solutions and ideas. Of course, Sitra is interested in health data, so we are looking for innovative ways of utilizing health data. I would love to see the scope of health data to be expanded from the traditional care delivery perspective to a broader scope. I would be thrilled if I saw Digital Therapeutics among the products. It is one of my personal focus areas now and I see great opportunities in that field.
Terkko Health X’s showcase is approaching fast, and we’ll be presenting our competing teams soon. Stay tuned!