Nordic Health Summit Japan Program Day (May 11th, 2022)

The Nordic’s position as a leading innovation region is on the rise. The number of unicorns per capita ranks second only after Silicon Valley, and Nordic countries are often ranked high in global indexes such as the European Innovation Scoreboards. The increase in investment from Japan to the Nordics over the past few years is also worth mentioning.

In response to these trends, the commercial section of the Nordic embassies in Japan and the Nordic Innovation House Tokyo co-hosted the Nordic Health Summit from May 11-13, 2022. The aim of the Summit was to connect Nordic healthcare innovations with Japanese investors, corporates, and the ecosystem.

A total of 183 people from 128 companies in Japan and the Nordics participated. The Program Day attracted a total of 147 participants, and 145 matchmaking sessions were organized over the following two days.

The Program Day on the first day was held mainly for Japanese participants to learn about the latest trends in the Nordic healthcare sector. The following is a summary of the program (a link to the full recording is also available at the end of this article).

Opening Remarks: The Nordics provide high-quality healthcare based on shared values

To open the Summit, Ms. Lena von Sydow, Deputy Head of Mission/Minister Counsellor at the Embassy of Sweden, Ms. Line Aune, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Norway, and Ambassador from Denmark to Japan H.E. Peter Taksøe-Jensen welcomed the participants. Sydow noted that Japan and the Nordic countries devote roughly 10% of their GDP to healthcare, contributing to the well-being of their citizens and maintaining social stability. Aune mentioned that the Nordic countries share the common values of democracy, open society, and emphasis on welfare, which are also the basis for providing high-quality, human-centered healthcare to all citizens. Ambassador Taksøe-Jensen concluded the remarks by emphasizing that the significance of the Summit lies in the matchmaking sessions that will be held during the next 2 days, and he hoped that the meetings will serve as a catalyst for new collaborations.

Keynote speech: Pharma facing to take up new roles in the patient journey

As the keynote speaker, we welcomed Mr. Masaru Otsuka, Head of Digital Acceleration at Takeda Pharmaceutical. Otsuka explained that the role of pharmaceutical companies is changing dramatically, expanding from their traditional role limited to therapeutic areas to include prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Digital solutions are one of the key elements in coping with this change, and collaboration with other companies, especially startups, is very important in this context. He also noted that many Nordic companies are among the top 150 digital health companies in the world (data from CB Insights), and that collaborating with Nordic startups could be a strategy for Japanese companies to consider.

Innovations in the Nordics: supported by strong research centers, collaboration, and an open mindset

Next, we turned our attention to the Nordics and welcomed Mr. Mikael Jakob, Counselor for Science and Innovation at the Embassy of Sweden, and Mr. Niklas Karvonen, Community Director at Nordic Innovation House Tokyo, who discussed why the Nordic region is producing so many unicorns and world-class startups. Some of the reasons mentioned were the large amount of investment in R&D, the existence of good research institutes and universities, good cooperation in changing new technologies to market demands and global solutions, being early adopters of new technologies, and the mindset of “born global”, where companies are aiming at the global market from Day 1.

Digitalization in the Nordic healthcare and Innovation Management

Next invited to the stage was Mr. Masahiro Kimura, Senior Commercial Officer at Business Finland, Mr. Thomas Højlund Christensen, Minister Counsellor for Economic Diplomacy and Health Care at the Royal Danish Embassy, and Dr. Marianne S. Berg, Counsellor for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Trade and Technology at Innovation Norway.

Regarding how to maintain and improve healthcare services in a declining labor force, Christensen noted that while Japan and the Nordics share similar challenges, the approaches they take are different. For example, Denmark has reduced the number of hospital beds per capita (Denmark has 2.5 beds per 1,000 people, while Japan has 13 beds per 1,000 people) and established core hospitals to provide high-level medical care, and realized efficient medical care by assigning family doctors according to residential areas.

Kimura explained Finland’s efforts in smart aging with digital solutions for a super-aging society, the role of integrated electric medical record information in promoting innovation in the healthcare sector, and the early development of legislation for efficient use of biobank data.

Berg mentioned that it is important for all healthcare providers and recipients to have opportunities for innovation, as innovation does not only come from companies, but also from local governments and sometimes from a family member or a single healthcare professional who is taking care of a patient.

The Nordics have an active life science industry

Mr. Peter Wolpert, CEO of Swedish venture capital Industrifonden, then took the stage remotely to explain the trends in investment and collaboration in the Nordic life science sector. Some of the points Wolpert emphasized were that the Nordic life science sector is characterized by a sophisticated academia-to-business ecosystem, financing is actively conducted through the public market as well as venture capital investment, and the number of biotech patents registered per capita is twice as big as in the EU. “Investments from Japan and partnerships with Japanese companies are welcomed in the Nordics”.

Japanese VC Global Brain: “The Nordics have a good environment for investment.”

After a coffee break, Mr. Takashi Moriguchi, Partner at Japanese VC Global Brain, and Mr. Magnus Blondell, Consultant at Business Sweden took the stage to share Global Brain’s experience last year in investing in Sweden’s Flow Neuroscience. Moriguchi shared his experience in building trust during the pandemic, the significance of having Business Sweden as a pathway, and the fact that non-financial information was easier to obtain than from startups in Japan or the US. He stated that the Nordics have a high level of basic research and that its nationwide usage of medical data supports faster research and innovation to happen. Global Brain healthcare team will continue to keep a close eye on the Nordic health tech startups as there is “a good environment for investment”.

Healthcare as an important pillar of EXPO 2025 Osaka

We then welcomed speakers based in Osaka: Dr. Lei Liu, Director of Innovation Partnership & i2JP, AstraZeneca Corporation, and Ms.Megumi Ishitobi, Project Leader, Osaka Business Development Agency. As the role of pharmaceutical companies is changing, AstraZeneca is building i2.JP, a platform to promote open innovation, and is expanding its network and activities both domestically and internationally. Ishitobi’s team operates the Osaka Innovation Hub, which connects entrepreneurs, large corporates, and investors in the Osaka region and supports startups from Japan and overseas. Both speakers emphasized that Japan is often said to have high barriers to entry due to language barriers and regulations, but these can be removed if you contact the right people like us. They hope that the World Expo 2025 at Osaka will be an opportunity for many foreign startups to participate.

Showcasing the Nordic participants: 16 pitches

As the final agenda of the Program Day, 16 Nordic companies participating in the Summit took the stage in turn to make remote pitches. The companies were: Idogen, SVF, Herantis, Popit, PainDrainer, MinPlan, Vitacon, Epiguard, Primex, Aker Biomarine, Cerebriu, Hytest, Sprint Bioscience, Nordic Bioscience, Geras Solutions, and Amniotics.

Looking Ahead

The feedback survey conducted after this 3-day Summit shows that the majority of respondents had a fruitful experience. All of the respondents said they would “likely” or “very likely” attend again next year if it will happen.

Thank you for reading to the end. If you are interested to learn more about the event, please watch below the full recording of the Nordic Health Summit Program Day.

Nordic Innovation House Tokyo is a community platform accelerating high-quality Nordic startups, scale-ups, and growth companies to Japan. Via our strong community and network, we connect Nordic companies into the right ecosystem stakeholders 🗼

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