About us

An ecosystem for digital health innovation

DigitalWell Arena is a digital health innovation initiative. The aim is to enable more people to live healthier lives and to address the complex societal challenges related to health that lie ahead.

No single actor can solve these challenges alone. Therefore, we need to work together to utilise health data and digital technologies that contribute to a sustainable society. As one of Vinnova’s winning growth initiatives, we will achieve results for both Sweden and the world.

The work of DigitalWell Arena is primarily focussed on four areas:

Quality assurance of health applications
Innovation through procurement
Strengthening public procurement
Needs-driven research

The Compare Foundation is the project owner for the ten-year Vinnväxt initiative, in which Region Värmland and Karlstad University are the main partners. However, DigitalWell Arena’s ecosystem is made up of a large number of actors who together enable various projects and investment areas.

Jonas Matthing and Marie Granader are leading the Vinnväxt initiative DigitalWell Arena, focused on supporting digital health innovation.

Can you contribute to the solutions of the future?

Background: how 10-year Vinnväxts satsning came to Värmland

In 2018, the Compare Foundation and Värmland won the Vinnväxt competition for the DigitalWell Arena initiative. A 10-year funding granted by Vinnova with the aim of building a nationally and internationally competitive innovation environment around digital health services.

Vinnväxt provides regions with long-term funding to build competitive innovation environments with the potential to achieve international success. DigitalWell Arena’s ambition is to establish Värmland as a region where the initiative forms a growth-creating ecosystem for digital health innovation – for the benefit of both Sweden and the world.

Digital health innovation is part of Region Värmland’s strategy for smart specialisation. The area is of great importance for the region’s economy, continued development, growth and future attractiveness and competitiveness.

A key reason why the Vinnväxt application was successful is strong regional leadership, which gives credibility to strong ownership in the region even after Vinnväxt funding ends.