The European life science network EIT Health expands to the most innovative region within the EU

The largest life science initiative world-wide, the European Network EIT Health, is now expanding its network to Finland as Helsinki University Hospital joins EIT Health Scandinavia. This means that the EU's top three most innovative regions including Stockholm, Sweden and Hovedstaden, Denmark are all part of the network.

HUS is Finland's largest hospital district, the largest healthcare provider and the second largest employer in Finland with about 680 000 patients receiving medical care annually. HUS manages the most demanding specialist medical care in Finland and has nationwide responsibility to provide centralised care for many rare and severe diseases.

For HUS and the Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Clinical Trial Unit it is essential to become part of a larger network to find partners and intensify international cooperation. The EIT Health’s network opens completely new opportunities for business collaboration, both in terms of new clinical trials and translational projects as well as applying for funding for research projects within the wider Horizon Europe programs.

- We are very excited to join EIT Health and have the opportunity to collaborate within their innovative network of experts, says Katriina Peltola, the Head Physician in the Clinical Trial Unit, HUS Comprehensive Cancer Center.

- Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) is a fantastic addition to the EIT Health network and will be an ideal partner for highly innovative projects as well as clinical trials. Today approximately 50 % of the healthcare providers are represented in our Scandinavian network (Sweden, Denmark and Estonia), with HUS as an associate partner, the Scandinavian partnership is strengthened further, covering a significant part of the Finnish healthcare providers, says Erik Forsberg, Managing Director EIT Health Scandinavia.

HUS has excellent resources to strengthen the EIT Health network such as the largest cancer treatment center in Finland, a significant clinical trial unit and a network nationally and internationally spanning the National Cancer Center (FICAN), Helsinki Biobank and the large scale research collaboration FinnGen where the private sector is also significantly involved.

- Accessing and interpreting data to improve healthcare is key for improving our healthcare systems and patient outcomes and Finland has exceptional conditions for research using genomic and health register data, continues Erik Forsberg.