{"id":88199,"date":"2021-05-17T15:10:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T12:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/?p=88199"},"modified":"2021-05-17T15:10:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T12:10:14","slug":"piret-hirv-manager-at-the-connected-health-cluster-the-estonian-health-technology-landscape-is-eagerly-awaiting-a-unicorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/piret-hirv-manager-at-the-connected-health-cluster-the-estonian-health-technology-landscape-is-eagerly-awaiting-a-unicorn\/","title":{"rendered":"Piret Hirv, Manager at the Connected Health Cluster: The Estonian health technology landscape is eagerly awaiting a unicorn"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A large part of Estonian health technology companies that create\ninnovation in the complicated field of health, have concentrated at the\nConnected Health Cluster, managed by Tehnopol. The journey to implementing new\nsolutions is often time-consuming in this sector; however, the benefits of\nthese solutions improve the quality of health care services and access to\nhealth care services, and make life easier for the health care professional,\nthe patient, and the healthy person. We had a chat with Manager of the Cluster\nPiret Hirv on the status of health technology in Estonia and its future\noutlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has the past year\ngenerally been for the Connected Health Cluster?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crisis that occurred last year initially had a startling effect on\neveryone. Still, the companies at the Connected Health Cluster recovered\nquickly and could see market potential. One good example is the company\nDermtest that provides the service of teledermoscopy. With the help of\ndevelopment support from the cluster, they created the possibility to get an\nassessment of one\u2019s skin condition via a remote appointment. With the help of\nthe service, it is also possible to consult a specialist regarding rashes,\nlesions and allergies without leaving home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What have been the most\nfascinating projects of the past year?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TriumfHealth solution that focuses on the mental well-being of\nchildren is certainly worth highlighting. The past year was also difficult for\nchildren, and caring for mental health was discussed a lot. Triumf\u2019s solution\noffers support for the child, using health games on smart devices. Years ago,\nthey started supporting the treatment of children with cancer. Soon, however,\nthey placed the health of a child in the wider sense on their desk. Some games\nare directed at all children and these help to avoid harmful habits and to make\nhealthy choices (Triumf Saga), but there is also a game created to cope with\nchronic conditions, for example (Triumf Hero).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of Icosagen, a company that operates in Tartu and is engaged\nin the production of antibodies, is also very interesting. Recently, they\ncompleted the anti-SARS-CoV-2 nasal spray BioBlock, which contains bovine\nantibodies and is intended as an additional measure for preventing the spread\nof the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guardtime\u2019s cooperation with WHO in developing the international\nvaccination passport has received international coverage. But Guardtime also\ndoes fascinating things in Estonia \u2013 in cooperation with Cognus, they are\ndeveloping a digital consent service, which has so far taken place on paper at\nhospitals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would also like to highlight the cooperation of Migrevenetion with\nQuretec and the Estonian Headache Society. It is the ambition of the young\ncompany to create the world\u2019s first fully digital headache clinic that would\nenable treatment of a migraine without leaving home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking into the\nfuture, genetic data are an important resource for improving health behaviour\nand treatment results. Where do you think we are on the path of putting genetic\ndata to use? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work is in progress in the direction of putting genetic data to use.\nRight now, it is difficult to obtain data from the Estonian Genome Centre. This\nmust be done in a secure and controlled manner, and it must be made certain\nthat data end up in the right place for the right purpose. Here, we have technical\nissues to resolve, as well as having the whole health care system prepared to\ngo along with the changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health care services in\nEstonia are mainly funded by the Estonian Health Insurance Fund. How do you\nthink this affects the endeavours of creating innovation at the Connected\nHealth Cluster?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is certainly important for innovative solutions to find funding for\nthe service to enter the Estonian market and make it to the list of services\ncompensated by the Estonian Health Insurance Fund. In the future, digital\nsolutions should support the treatment process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the importance of the Health Insurance Fund, we must also\ntalk about the need to assess the security of digital applications, starting\nwith what happens to any entered data, to verifying that these applications do\nnot harm human health and instead, provide very specific advice and monitor the\nnecessary things. Right now, TalTech has taken steps and created the first\nversion of the validation environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you consider\nthe main problems to be in the development of health technology companies in\nEstonia? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation could be better \u2013 we have several critical issues that\nrequire attention. Funding is important for early-phase ideas which originate\nfrom universities, for example, but also from elsewhere. In the field of\nhealth, the private investor\u2019s interest in the solutions only increases in\nlater stages of development, which is why it is necessary to find other\nresources for still upcoming companies. Here, the funds and expert advice of\nTehnopol and the Connected Health Cluster are of great help, but this is not\nenough. It is also certainly necessary to improve cooperation with\nuniversities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, personally, miss digital services that are important for the\nindividual, which would add value to the national digital services. Digilugu,\nfor example, could be a place where I could easily extend my prescription.\nRight now, our data are available there, but developers of new services cannot\naccess the data in the health information system. The Information System\nAuthority is developing a consent service solution which one could use to\nconsent to the use of their data by a company, for example. Giving informed\nconsent should be very simple for a person, but privacy and security must\ndefinitely be guaranteed. I hope that the consent service will be the next\nimpetus for development for our digital companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you feel the\nimage of our country is in the field of health to other countries? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The digital state works, and this can be seen outside as well, leaving\nthe wrinkles to be ironed out domestically. Estonia is seen as a great\nenvironment to come and develop one\u2019s company. Our different databases (such as\ngenetic data, the health information system) are seen as a very important\nresource for developing algorithms and solutions. However, our small size may\nbecome a limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we expect from\nthis season?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I await a qualitative leap so that we can use people\u2019s genetic data in\norder for personal medicine to become operational, and this would benefit both\npublic health as well as the health of each individual. I also await the\ncompletion of the consent service. The objective of all of these tools could be\nbringing the person to the centre of health care services. A person must be\nable to make an informed and secure decision regarding which services it is\npossible to provide based on their data. At that, they must understand what it\nmeans to share their data with third parties \u2013 both the opportunities and the\ndangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the long term, however, I await potential unicorns to appear in the\nhealth landscape as well. There are ideas, but the system must become even more\nsupportive in the broader sense. It would be good to set an aim that in three\nyears, for example, we have a list of five potential unicorns and we can create\nall the conditions for their success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A large part of Estonian health technology companies that create innovation in the complicated field of health, have concentrated at the Connected Health Cluster, managed by Tehnopol. The journey to implementing new solutions is often time-consuming in this sector; however, the benefits of these solutions improve the quality of health care services and access to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":84234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88200,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88199\/revisions\/88200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}