- Cancer research and innovation must be prioritized and better integrated into healthcare. Stronger cooperation is needed. Many actors have testified that they lack platforms and forums to exchange knowledge and experiences and to be able to test and implement new solutions, says Hans Hägglund, national cancer coordinator at Sveriges Kommuner and Regions, SKR, and project manager for Nollvision cancer.
The innovation environment must break today's lock-ins and create the conditions for cross-disciplinary and cross-sector collaborations. It should be easier for patients, healthcare, academia, industry and politics to come together and work methodically together in research and innovation in order to quickly introduce new working methods, techniques and treatments that benefit patients and society.
Five target areas
To work towards the vision, the initiators have identified a number of measurable sub-goals within five overlapping target areas in need of renewal:
Prevention
- Early detection and diagnosis
- Treatment and quality of life
- Research, clinical trials and registries
- Organization, economy and ethics
During the first two years, the innovation environment focuses on lung cancer, which is the most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. The working model that is developed must then be able to be used for other diagnoses.
Well-established innovation environment
Nollvision cancer will contribute in the long term to realizing Agenda 2030 by improving cancer care and making it more equal and strengthening Sweden's international competitiveness in life science. The innovation environment also works towards several objective in the national cancer strategy, the national life science strategy and the government's and the Regional Cancer Center's, RCC's, direction for Swedish cancer care.
The innovation environment is well anchored in the Government Office through the agreement between the state and SKR that was signed in December 2019, "Equal and efficient cancer care with shorter waiting times in 2020". It is also anchored in RCC's direction for Swedish cancer care in 2020–2022, where an objective for the target area Research and innovation is that there should be a platform for system innovation with the aim of transforming cancer from a fatal to a curable or chronic disease in Sweden and globally.
Start-up
During the initial phase up to and including 2021, the goal is to start efforts within the five target areas, to gather more actors who stand behind the vision and want to contribute to the work, and to make the innovation environment known nationally and internationally, including by participating in the Swedish stand at the world exhibition Expo 2020 in Dubai.
- Our vision is ambitious, and not something that a single actor can achieve. We hope that Sweden can lead the way and become a role model for many countries and that our work will ultimately benefit patients worldwide, says Hans Hägglund.
Initiator
National cancer coordinator at Sveriges Kommuner and Regions and chairman of the Regional Cancer Center in collaboration with:
AstraZeneca, Cancer Foundation, Elekta, Stockholm School of Economics, Kliniskt Centrum for Health Promotion Care at Lund University, Leading Health Care, LIF – The research pharmaceutical companies, Lung Cancer Association, SLUSG Swedish Lung Cancer Study Group, STUNS/Uppsala BIO, Swedish Medtech and Swelife.
Learn more at nollvisioncancer.se
Report from the area
In this film, representatives of the innovation environment Nollvision cancer talk about how they worked vision-driven, their lessons learned and results from the first two years.