The current and future role of technology in Swedish healthcare
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Kungliga tekniska högskolan - Centrum för teknik i medicin och hälsa |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 836 000 |
| Project duration | July 2012 - December 2013 |
| Status | Completed |
Important results from the project
The purpose of the project was to highlight the need for a national R&I strategy for biomedical engineering, an industry with a strong track record in Sweden. The goal was to create a national structure for the development of needs-driven innovation in collaboration between health care, industry and academia and to ensure that medical technology innovations reach patients, health care as well as the international market. The project resulted in a strategic R&I agenda ´Medtech 4 Health´ and an application for a Strategic Innovation Area (SIO) 21/11 2013.
Expected long term effects
The project was initiated by the formation of the National forum for biomedical engineering, NFMT, an open forum for stakeholders in biomedical engineering. A national series of seminars on the role of technology in future health care was conducted with approx. 20 seminars. A large number of dialogues formed the basis for the SIO proposals for key initiatives that will contribute to close identified gaps in the present Swedish innovation system for biomedical engineering and to create a framework for quadrohelix collaboration. The R&I agenda can be downloaded from www.nfmt.se.
Approach and implementation
NFMT´s steering committee includes representatives at the national level for medtech industry, research institutes (SP for RISE) and the Swedish Society for Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MTF) as well as regional innovation actors representing academia and health care in six regions: Umeå / Luleå, Uppsala, Stockholm, East Mid-Sweden, VGR and Skåne. A future board with named senior executives from medtech industry, regions/county councils and academia, with equal representation from the six regions, supports the proposed SIO-programme ´Medtech 4 Health´.