For three days, 26-28 May, Karlstad will be transformed into a meeting place for everyone who wants to contribute to innovation and societal improvement – whether you are an entrepreneur, a researcher, a policy maker or a public sector professional. DigitalWell Arena’s activities range from practical innovation support to workshops on procurement-friendly innovation management.
Lina Svensberg, Innovation Manager at DigitalWell Arena, is particularly looking forward to bringing different parts of her network together on her home turf – and creating new encounters between people with different perspectives:
“UNFOLD provides a unique opportunity to weave together local initiatives with national and international perspectives. There is tremendous power when people with different missions and experiences come together – researchers, experts, policy makers and entrepreneurs.”
DigitalWell Arena will also host the joint mingle evening on 27 May at Olssons Bazar, where we will crown the winners of the DigitalWell Awards.
Some of our events are almost fully booked – but there are still many open activities to take part in. You can find the full list at the bottom of the page!
Some of the co-organisers of Unfold Värmland: Lina Svensberg (DigitalWell Arena), Thomas Wernerheim (Karlstad Municipality), Charlotte Wäreborn (Compare), Lise Bergqvist (DigitalWell Ventures), Per Kristensson (CTF), and Josefin Danielsson (Region Värmland).
Digital opening of Unfold Värmland 2025 and presentation of the week’s various events and organisers. When: 26 May at 09:00-09:30 Where: Unfold Värmland’s LinkedIn page
Do you have an idea you want to explore or develop? Come and discuss it with DigitalWell Arena’s innovation advisors in our open counselling. Where: Karlstadrummet, Karlstad City Library When: 26 & 27 May at 10:00-11:00 No pre-registration required
Research and practice – based on the demand acceleration framework. Where: Värmlands Museum When: 26 May at 13:00-17:00 More info and registration – NOTE! Few places left
Welcome to a relaxed breakfast meeting! Meet representatives from Health Data Sweden and find out how HDS Gateway can support companies and public actors in the use of health data. Where: Värmlands Museum When: 27 May at 08:15-09:30 No pre-registration required
This workshop will bring together practitioners and support actors for joint exploration. What is really needed to support the transition in practice? Where: Elite Stadshotellet When: 27 May at 09:45-11:45 More info and registration – NOTE! Few places left
How can the public sector simplify the procurement of health apps – while raising quality standards? The seminar will also be broadcast digitally. Where: Värmlands Museum When: 27 May at 10:30-11:30 More info and link to webcast
A lunch session with startup pitches and excitement about what is happening within DigitalWell Ventures. Meet the companies that develop future solutions for digital health and the public sector. Where: Hotel Fratelli When: 27 May at 11:30-12:45 No pre-registration required
Welcome to a practical and playful workshop with David Hanley from We Shine where we explore complexity together by building with LEGO. Where: Elite Stadshotellet When: 27 May at 13:15-14:45 More info and registration – NOTE! Few places left
A joint end to the day – with mingle, inspiration and award ceremony in the DigitalWell Awards. Where: Olssons Bazar When: 27 May from 16:00 More info and registration
The video podcast broadcasts a special episode from Värmlands Museum in connection with the launch of The Ecosystem Playbook. The tool has been developed by Vinnova, Ramboll and Danish Design Centre and provides guidance on how regions can strengthen their innovation systems through coordination and long-term strategy. More info and link to registration
The lawyer’s guide to strong companies and successful commercialisation of innovation. A masterclass on building value-creating infrastructure. Where: Elite Stadshotellet When: 28 May at 08:45-10:45 More info and registration
Free digital scouting to present four innovative solutions for the public sector. Easier business intelligence – directly to your screen. Where: Online When: 28 May at 10:00-11:00 More info and registration
Digital closing of Unfold Värmland 2025 with a reflection together with some of the speakers and organisers from the week. When: 26 May at 14:15-14:45 Where: Unfold Värmland’s LinkedIn page
Here you can take part of the entire unfold Värmland programme
The finalist field is an excellent reflection of the diversity of the digital health innovation ecosystem. Six of the nominees address challenges related to children and young people in different ways – from interventions that empower children to AI solutions that can identify vulnerable children and digital platforms that create community for young people with disabilities.
At the same time, several initiatives also target the elderly and people with chronic diseases, using digital technologies to prevent health problems and streamline care processes.
The candidates come from a wide range of sectors and organisations – from start-up founders and researchers to civil servants and non-profit organisations. What they all have in common is a desire to use digital technology to address key societal challenges.
The nominees per category, from top to bottom:
Four winners in as many categories will be announced at Olssons Bazar in Karlstad on 27 May. This year, the DigitalWell Awards will be presented in conjunction with Unfold Värmland’s mingle evening. Unfold Värmland is a gathering event that over three days, 26 to 28 May, offers over 30 exciting programme items.
Many people are working hard to enable changes that can contribute to better health – with the DigitalWell Award, the DigitalWell Arena wants to highlight inspiring solutions and initiatives.
Fortunately, more and more people seem to want to recognise these good forces. Last year, a record number of votes (2,000!) were cast for the award!
– This is the fifth time we have organised the DigitalWell Awards, and our previous winners include fantastic representatives and pioneers of digital health innovation, from research, industry and the public sector. The DigitalWell Awards have become an inspiring forum to showcase the breadth of our ecosystem. It also highlights the need for collaboration to bring about change,” says Marie Granander, Project Manager for DigitalWell Arena.
In addition to positive attention, the DigitalWell Award gives winners the opportunity to attend a recognised conference on digital health and innovation. This creates opportunities for skills development, exchange of experience, business intelligence and a broader network of contacts.
To be nominated for the DigitalWell Award, you must have a digital solution or initiative in one of the four categories of the competition:
You can nominate candidates from the private, public and academic sectors. From individuals, to a department, a company or an organisation.
here you can nominate your candidate
Nominations for the award are open until 14 April. They can be both individuals and organisations that contribute to the future of health innovation. After this, the competition organiser DigitalWell Arena will select up to three candidates in each category.
The DigitalWell Awards will be held for the fifth time this year, and voting for the final candidates selected in each category will open on Tuesday 7 May.
The winners will be chosen by combining the scores from the organiser’s jury, the DigitalWell Arena steering group, and the public vote. This year’s winners will be presented live on 27 May during UNFOLD Värmland’s mingle at Olssons Bazar in Karlstad
Read more about the digitalwell awardSign up for the unfold mingle
Below you will find our annual report broken down into our four focus areas, where you can find out more about:
Many thanks to all our partners!In 2024 alone, we are 417 actors who have contributed in various ways to initiatives in the health innovation ecosystem.
DigitalWell Arena continues its work to establish a national framework for quality assurance of health applications. At the end of 2024, a report was published with recommendations on how Sweden can both accelerate the use of health apps and create a safer market.
The report is the result of a one-year feasibility study involving both authorities and industry organisations, including the Medical Products Agency, the eHealth Agency and Swedish Medtech.
The report makes a number of recommendations on how Sweden can increase the trust and utility of health apps. The most central conclusion is that a national quality framework with clear requirements needs to be put in place.
Today, the quality of health apps is assessed by each individual municipality or region, creating unequal access to new services. For companies, the lack of standardised requirements means high development costs. Ultimately, there is a risk that Swedish solutions will be directed towards other markets, with clearer regulations and greater opportunities to scale.
“DigitalWell Arena has established itself as an intermediary that brings together key stakeholders around this important issue. Without a clear structure to evaluate the quality of health apps, their usefulness risks being limited, especially in the public sector,” says Jonas Matthing, Executive Director of DigitalWell Arena.
Even while waiting for a national framework, the public sector needs to improve its knowledge of quality assurance for health apps. In connection with the feasibility study, three Swedish companies (Everon, ProBits and Imagine Care) had their applications tested according to the Nordic quality framework NordDEC, which gave positive results.
In 2025, more companies will therefore be offered assessments under existing quality frameworks. At the same time, the public sector will be more actively involved, as an important aspect is that public customers start using existing frameworks to set quality requirements.
“This includes identifying whether there are different interpretations of the regulations, or other obstacles to the use of health apps,” says Marie Granander, project manager at DigitalWell Arena.
2024 has marked a breakthrough for public procurement as a tool for innovation. Three new procurements have been carried out with the support of the Demand Acceleration framework – in addition, the first service developed has now been procured by almost 30 organisations.
As recently as 2021-22, the principles of the Demand Acceleration framework were put into practice for the first time in a public procurement by the municipality of Karlstad. In short, the approach involves integrating public procurement into innovation processes, where several companies can be procured to work together with the organisation to create a solution with the potential for widespread adoption.
In Karlstad, the health and social care unit was looking for a better way to train care staff in dealing with customers with cognitive impairment. The solution developed with the support of Demand Acceleration became a new VR service, where staff can experience everyday life from the customers’ perspective in a number of scenarios.
Virotea was the company that developed the final solution, and their service “Virotea ED” now has 26 organisations as paying customers, both in private and public care. In the last year alone, the customer base has doubled and the service has also reached beyond Sweden’s borders, having recently been procured by the City of Mariehamn in Åland.
“When you develop a new theory to drive procurement, you are happy if it can be tested in practice at all. The fact that the first solution created through a Demand-Acceleration procurement has already reached this many customers is a fantastic result”, says Jonas Matthing, Executive Director of DigitalWell Arena.
In 2024, the Demand Acceleration framework has been applied in three additional procurements, both within and outside the health sector:
Almost as important as the completed procurements are the market dialogues Demand Acceleration contributes to through so-called RFI (Request For Information). One example is the Karolinska University Hospital’s Solution Enabler Programme, where an RFI has served as a tool for identifying companies with new approaches to developing hospital-connected advanced paediatric care at home.
“An RFI is an important interface where the public sector can communicate its needs. It creates broader contact areas for development projects, where more companies can participate and make proposals to realise the public sector’s perceived needs. It provides a common learning that increases the opportunities for good, public business and lays the foundation for implementation,” says Jonas Matthing.
Meanwhile, the Demand Acceleration community continues to grow and now includes 120 participants in more than a handful of countries, many with key roles in innovation and procurement.
The development of the community, and the common resources that facilitate shared learning (including manuals, reports and articles) has been inspired by research on both commons and innovation commons.
Interest in the Demand Acceleration framework also remains strong internationally. Mainly within UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), where DigitalWell Arena is leading a workstream on innovation procurement involving experts from Spain, Georgia and the European Commission, among others.
The interaction between innovative companies and the public sector has become a key thematic issue for health innovation. In 2024, important steps were taken to further improve this interaction – with the DigitalWell Arena ecosystem becoming something of a national model.
Several important pieces have fallen into place within the startup ecosystem of the Arena. In close collaboration with DigitalWell Ventures, an increasingly strong knowledge niche is being built to support public business.
As early as 2023, a joint feasibility study (the ACCESS project) highlighted a knowledge gap within the incubator system to meet the demands of the public sector. Within the initiative, we have since worked to improve the conditions, tools and methods for business advisors within the Swedish incubator system. The aim is to support start-ups in helping to solve public sector needs by applying new technologies, while giving innovative companies leverage for growth.
This work has given rise to several exciting initiatives in 2024. One example is a handbook, aimed at both companies and business developers, on the public sector as a strategic market for startups. The handbook and other relevant knowledge also form the basis of an AI-based tool to support companies and business advisers.
“Developing companies and business advisors around the specifics of public sector business is an important kit for DigitalWell Arena. It complements other key issues we are pursuing and counteracts system lock-ins. By honing skills also on the supply side, DigitalWell Ventures is setting an important strategic direction for its incubator activities”, says Jonas Matthing.
In addition to a clearer strategic focus, there were several other pleasing milestones to look back on during the year:
Through these initiatives, DigitalWell Arena continues to build bridges between innovative companies and the public sector, and create better conditions for future health innovations!
An interdisciplinary approach is increasingly characterising research at DigitalWell Arena. Karlstad University speaks of a paradigm shift, where external requests and collaborations increasingly influence the direction of research.
A key part of this development is the “Arena Project”, in which six research groups at Karlstad University are collaborating to drive innovation in the field of health. The initiative, which started in 2021, has now begun to produce clear results and is also creating new opportunities for collaboration with industry and the public sector.
One high-profile example is the international 6G-path project, involving researchers from Computer Science and Nursing at Karlstad University. The test environment created in Karlstad will allow students to participate in different medical scenarios remotely via VR. The project aims to use new solutions in mobile communication (5G/6G) to improve students’ training through more realistic scenarios.
The study has been included in the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences’ top 100 list for 2024, which includes another research project from Karlstad University with a clear health link: the SWEA tool, which uses advanced data analysis to identify stress factors to create a healthier work environment.
Within DigitalWell Arena, several initiatives linked to data and digital technology are being run in collaboration between research, business and the public sector. Examples include children’s and young people’s mental health, dementia, the transition of social services and security in society.
According to Erik Wästlund, coordinator of the research groups at Karlstad University, this is, in a way, a paradigm shift, where external organisations’ requests influence the direction of research to a greater extent than before.
One clear example is the “Child and Youth Journey” project, where researchers from Karlstad University, in collaboration with several municipalities in Värmland, are working on how AI can support efforts to identify young people at risk of mental illness earlier.
A related project for 2025 focuses on how children of parents with psychiatric conditions can be supported via mobile apps. These children are entitled to preventive interventions to reduce the risk of developing their own mental health and socio-economic problems. The project involves BRIS and the organisation Maskrosbarn, among others.
Increased understanding of the individual is also a recurring theme in several studies. In this genre, researchers from the Centre for Services Research (CTF) and the Centre for Gender Research want to analyse the promises often associated with new technological solutions.
A central issue is to gain a better understanding of the concept of independence, which is often mentioned when implementing technology in elderly care. Among other things, by relating the concept to the experience of vulnerability, taking into account factors such as age, gender and socio-economic status.
“Independence and security are core values in the digitalisation of healthcare. Despite this, there is no standardised way to measure individuals’ perceived independence. Current methods focus only on physical and cognitive capabilities, such as dressing or cooking. But digital tools can offer so much more, such as giving people a sense of control over their lives,” says Charlotte Bäccman, senior lecturer in psychology and researcher at CTF.
Jonas Matthing, Executive Director of DigitalWell Arena, has a 25-year background in research on digitalisation. He believes that how digital solutions are perceived by the individual will be a key issue for the reform of good and close care, as well as the implementation of person-centredness:
“Given the demographic challenges we face, technological solutions in health and social care are both a necessity and an opportunity. Therefore, research on the qualitative aspects of technology is very important.”
More than 200 000 health apps are available on the Swedish market, but their potential to contribute to better health remains underutilised. To find out why, DigitalWell Arena recently presented a feasibility study highlighting the main challenges. At its core, the lack of a national framework to evaluate the quality of health apps creates barriers for users, manufacturers and the healthcare sector.
The insights from the feasibility study were summarised in a report with a number of recommendations. The most central are that an authority needs to be given overall responsibility for quality assurance of health apps and that a national framework with a clear set of requirements begins to be applied.
In anticipation of structural changes, customers, not least in the public sector, need to prioritise increasing knowledge about quality assurance. The new project run by DigitalWell Arena, Leap For Life and Linnaeus University focuses on just that.
A key aspect is to get public customers to apply existing quality frameworks. In the first instance, these are frameworks that can take a more holistic approach, such as the Nordic quality framework NordDEC and the international technical specification ISO/TS 82304-2:2021.
– Even without a national decision, these frameworks provide guidance for evaluating the safety and efficacy of health apps. By gathering insights from both the public sector and companies, the project creates knowledge that will help show the way forward for Sweden,” says Marie Granander, project manager at DigitalWell Arena.
Four public actors are participating in the project: Region Värmland, Karlstad Municipality, Arvika Municipality and the Academic Primary Care Centre in Region Stockholm. Based on their needs, a number of relevant health apps will be selected for screening according to the existing frameworks.
– The aim is to interpret how companies and the public sector perceive the relevance and scope of the frameworks. It is also about identifying whether there are different interpretations of the regulations, or other obstacles to the use of health apps,” says Marie Granander, project manager at DigitalWell Arena.
Currently, the quality of health apps is assessed by each municipality and region. This slows down the pace of implementation and creates unequal access to new solutions across the country. For the companies, the unclear requirements picture means high development costs, as each customer sets its own requirements.
Anders Åmberg is the IT and digitalisation manager for health and social care in Arvika municipality, which is at the forefront of implementing safety-enhancing technologies in some areas. However, when it comes to implementing health applications, quality issues limit the level of ambition.
– A national framework would make things much easier. Today, a great deal of responsibility is placed on each individual municipality. Arvika is a small municipality with limited resources, and the work involved in quality assurance of a health application means that we have to make a hard prioritisation of what we can take in.
The project will organise several open seminars with the aim of raising awareness in the public sector about the possibilities of using common quality assurance frameworks. The long-term ambition is to lay the foundations of a community, where public actors can exchange experiences that will facilitate the evaluation and implementation of health apps.
In total, more than 30 incubators have qualified for the national incubator programme for the period 2025 to 2029, of which DigitalWell Ventures is the only one in Värmland.
Vinnova’s decision was preceded by a thorough quality review of DigitalWell Ventures’ processes, network and results. The quality of the companies the incubator supports is also a key factor.
– It feels fantastic to get this quality stamp. It’s a cool context to be part of Sweden’s 30 best tech incubators. It also means that in the long term we can support even more innovators and entrepreneurs who address our major societal challenges, such as how we will cope with future welfare with reduced resources,” says Stefan Skoglund, CEO of DigitalWell Ventures.
DigitalWell Ventures was founded in 2021 as part of DigitalWell Arena. Since the start, around 70 companies have gone through the company’s incubation and acceleration programme. The business has since been transferred to the Inova Foundation in Värmland, to create better conditions and avoid a conflict of interest by representing individual companies.
Stefan Skoglund sees several key factors in DigitalWell Ventures being able to establish itself so quickly and achieve both national and international interest. Two of these are Region Värmland’s strategy for smart specialisation, with digital health innovation as a priority area, and the collaboration with DigitalWell Arena.
– Despite being a relatively new incubator, we have built up expertise that attracts companies, mentors, investors and resources from all over the country. These resources can now be made available to more people.
At the same time, Stefan Skoglund emphasises that it is not just about the results for the companies in the incubator:
– We also support and develop the innovative power of entrepreneurs, and you have to be humble about the fact that sometimes things take time. The knowledge, networks and entrepreneurial skills they gain through the incubator can make the next idea really take off, creating the conditions for long-term regional growth.
Such a piece of the puzzle was laid early on in the incubator and remains an important foundation for the organisation. In the innovation council, early validation of start-up ideas is carried out by representatives from Karlstad Municipality, Region Värmland, Karlstad University and DigitalWell Arena. Since its inception, more than 400 ideas and companies have been evaluated and given advice and support.
Over time, the incubator has specialised in supporting companies in doing business with the public sector and contributing to societal change. For example, when it comes to solutions aimed at the health sector, knowledge of both procurement and regulatory requirements is crucial to meeting customer needs.
Increasing interaction between the public sector and innovative companies is also a high priority for DigitalWell Arena. That’s why Jonas Matthing, Executive Director, is delighted with the incubator’s success and long-term funding.
– They are an important partner, as we closely follow innovative companies and the new solutions that tech can bring. For example, when it comes to managing health data that provides opportunities for better care with AI. To meet the societal challenges we face in terms of health, the public sector is looking for new solutions that can both maintain and develop welfare.
The report is the result of a one-year feasibility study in which both authorities and industry organisations, including the Medical Products Agency, the eHealth Agency and Swedish Medtech, participated as an expert group.
– In fact, unlike several other countries, Sweden lacks a designated framework for evaluating all types of health applications. Without a national commitment and quality stamp, it is difficult to build trust and accelerate uptake. Today, there is often a lack of information on whether apps are safe or effective, making it difficult to make informed decisions for both individuals and the health and care sector,” says Marie Granander, project manager at DigitalWell Arena.
The conclusions of the report are summarised in a number of recommendations for further work. The most central ones are:
– Recommendations show that the question is not only about which framework to use, but also how to create a clear and long-term organisation of the work. It would be unthinkable not to have a national process for safe medicines. Similarly, we need a clear common structure for health apps,” says Marie Granander.
For companies, the lack of uniform requirements means that development costs increase, as the quality of apps is currently assessed by each individual customer’s requirements. Ultimately, this means that Sweden risks missing out on good solutions if companies turn to markets with clearer quality requirements and greater opportunities to scale their product.
The report identifies two existing quality frameworks for health apps, the Nordic NordDEC framework and the international technical specification SIS CEN ISO/TS 82304-2, both of which could provide a basis for quality assurance. As part of the feasibility study, three Swedish companies’ health apps have been assessed according to NordDEC. In the report, the companies share their views on the assessment process and the value they think it has added.
The insights from the feasibility study form an important basis for the continued work to get a national framework for quality assurance of health apps in place. DigitalWell Arena, together with several key players, has now been granted continued funding from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth to take the work further.
– Even while waiting for a national framework to be identified, customers need to prioritise quality assurance. “For companies, it is a crucial incentive to support the requirements set by the buyer. Therefore, our focus now is to increase the knowledge of both manufacturers and buyers about the common frameworks that exist,” says Marie Granander.
Sweden’s regions are facing historically large financial deficits, and major redundancies are being announced in the health sector, but even in better economic times, the human resources are not enough to meet our societal challenges linked to health in the long term.
Therefore, we are hopeful about the results and impacts that DigitalWell Arena’s work contributes to in: quality assurance, innovation through procurement, incubation for startups, and demand-driven research infrastructure.
During the year, we received the long-awaited news that we had been granted funding to be the first in Sweden to test quality frameworks for health applications – an area that is crucial to streamlining the requirements and implementation of digital health technologies.
The Demand Acceleration methodology, which integrates procurement into innovation processes, was highlighted by the European Commissioner as a Best Practice for knowledge valorisation. The methodology has also been widely recognised by the UNECE and presented at several conferences. The first procurement with the methodology was carried out in 2022 in Karlstad municipality and the service that was developed has been scaled to eleven new, paying customers in just one year. The municipality itself has been a driving force in the development of the methodology and expresses that DigitalWell Arena as an environment and platform has helped to increase their ability, from being an innovation supporter to an innovation driver.
In 2020/2021, DigitalWell Arena introduced a structure for incubation and acceleration for startups. Over time, the initiative has developed into independent businesses that in 2023 have been spun off to a long-term owner, the Inova Foundation. The change of ownership contributes to sustainable businesses with a focus on health and interaction with the public sector – both regionally, nationally and internationally.
The establishment of a digital health innovation infrastructure consisting of six research groups at Karlstad University has strengthened interdisciplinary research and also contributed to an increased degree of both counselling and collaboration with the public sector and companies. The formation strengthens applied research and contributes to both developing the evidence needed for the new digital technology, but also for faster dissemination of research results.
DigitalWell Arena’s service portfolio is also further strengthened through the partnership in the Health Data Sweden(HDS) consortium – a digital innovation hub. The aim is to accelerate digital maturity in society and improve the use of health data, to contribute to more efficient healthcare and better health. The free services delivered through HDS are aimed at SMEs and the public sector in Sweden and Europe. In 2023 alone, DigitalWell Arena has delivered services worth €3 million in the areas of Demand Acceleration, Quality Assurance, and Incubation Support.
The systemic transition to a new mode linked to our health challenges is a long-term endeavour that we need to drive together. Every year, around 400 actors collaborate within the DigitalWell Arena ecosystem. We need to continue this over the next five years and keep our sights set on utilising health data and the digital technologies that contribute to a more sustainable society.
Together we achieve results for both Sweden and the world!
Four inspiring figures from DigitalWell Arena in 2023:
Scroll on to read more in-depth about what has happened in our four priority areas!
DigitalWell Arena has long highlighted the need for common standards for quality assurance of digital health applications. In 2023, a project was initiated to take these ambitions further. The aim is to ultimately introduce harmonised quality requirements so that health services can be used safely by both individuals and the public sector.
Currently, there are around 270 000 health services available for download in the EU, but the lack of harmonised quality requirements makes it difficult for users to determine which ones are safe and effective.
This poses challenges for the public sector, both in procuring and recommending these services. At the same time, it also creates constraints for businesses, which cannot foresee the potential for their services to reach a wider market.
– Companies often lack specifications or minimum requirements to develop against. This means they are reluctant to invest in a new solution. In addition, the threshold for adoption is just as high for a lifestyle application for relaxation, or step counting, as it is for a medical technology application aimed at monitoring or treating a disease,” says Marie Granander, Project Manager for DigitalWell Arena.
During the project, NordDEC, a Nordic quality framework, will be tested on three Swedish health services. The companies involved in this endeavour are Imagine Care, Probits, Everon. The aim is to promote knowledge exchange and increase understanding of how new digital health services can be made more accessible by applying agreed standards.
The project to create a uniform assessment of health services runs until August 2024 and is a collaboration between the health service in Region Värmland, Equalis, RISE, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), the Swedish eHealth Agency, the Medical Products Agency, Swedish Medtech, RISE, the eHealth Institute and DigitalWell Arena.
Increasing the digital maturity of the public sector, including through training, is also an important part of contributing to the development of health applications. In 2023, the second edition of the “Digitisation Leaders in the Welfare Sector” training course was completed. In total, the two training rounds have attracted almost 50 participants from 20 municipalities and two regions. Participants have come from a wide variety of organisations, from emergency care to social services. The aim is to offer new training places in 2024.
Based in Karlstad, DigitalWell Arena has created a new method for procuring innovation in the public sector. In 2023, the Demand Acceleration methodology has been rolled out on an international playing field – while initiating a series of new procurement processes.
In 2022, the very first service created using the Demand Acceleration methodology saw the light of day. In Karlstad, the health and social care unit had long been looking for a better way to train carers to deal with customers with cognitive impairment, a collective diagnosis that includes dementia.
The solution was a brand new VR service, where staff can experience everyday challenges from the customers’ perspective in a number of scenarios. As no solution was available on the market, a new service was created, where seven innovative companies were procured to interact with the municipality’s own operations.
The Demand Acceleration methodology integrates procurement into innovation processes. Several different companies are procured to participate, assessing both their ability to create a solution that meets the needs of the organisation and their ability to bring the solution to market. Companies that are deemed to have potential continue step by step in the process. In Karlstad’s procurement, it was Virotea’s solution that went all the way, and since the service was implemented, it has been sold on to a further 11 municipalities and care providers.
Scalability is a key principle of Demand Acceleration, where good solutions can easily reach a larger public market. In 2023, it can also be said that the idea of scalability has been applied to the methodology itself.
During the year, three municipalities have initiated new procurements with the support of Demand Acceleration: Hammarö, Helsingborg and Karlstad, which is conducting its second procurement. In both Hammarö’s and Helsingborg’s cases, challenges outside the direct health sphere are also being addressed – sustainability and municipal services. Helsingborg can be said to be the actor that has so far tested the methodology in the most challenging context, where the ambition is to find new ways to halve the carbon emissions from the city’s public consumption.
Together with Karolinska University Hospital, DigitalWell Arena has also developed an innovative format for innovation sprints, specifically adapted to the needs of the healthcare sector. The format is based on the principles of Demand Acceleration. First in line to test the new format is SABH, Hospital-based Advanced Paediatric Care at Home.
A targeted project has also been carried out in which around ten new actors have been trained in managing procurement processes, which reduces the risk of bottlenecks. The innovation environments that participated include Peak Innovation, Leap for Life, Linköping Science Park, Norrköping Science Park, Sahlgrenska Science Park and Borås Science Park.
As part of the dissemination of the Demand Acceleration methodology, the first versions of a handbook have been created and published within DigitalWell Arena. The material is subject to a creative commons licence, which means that it is available to use and build on.
Interest in using public procurement to drive demand for innovative solutions that help solve societal challenges has not stopped within Sweden’s borders. On a number of occasions, DigitalWell Arena has been given the opportunity to explain the potential of the methodology in various international contexts, including by UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). During the year, the EU has also highlighted Demand Acceleration as an example of “Best Practice” on its Knowledge Valorisation Platform.
Innovative companies are a catalyst for developing new digital health innovations that can solve societal challenges. A key issue for the DigitalWell Arena is to help facilitate and expand collaboration between startups and the public sector.
Over the year, DigitalWell Arena has supported more than 40 companies in various ways to develop their ideas and scale up their operations. In recent years, a large part of this work has been channelled into DigitalWell Ventures’ accelerator programme, which has emerged within DigitalWell Arena. The accelerator programme focuses on companies that are ready to scale up their services and products.
Initially, DigitalWell Ventures simultaneously covered the needs of companies in earlier phases, and in 2022 this activity was lifted out into a separate incubator programme, DigitalWell Incubator. The business has been designated by Vinnova as one of Sweden’s excellent incubators, with support from the National Incubator Programme. A stated objective has been to increase the companies’ knowledge of doing business with the public sector – which is a prerequisite for digital health applications to reach a larger market and contribute to better health.
In 2023, the incubation programme has been reunited with the acceleration programme run by DigitalWell Ventures. Both programmes are now owned by Inova, a foundation run by Region Värmland, Karlstad University and Karlstad Municipality. Inova’s mission is to support development projects, research-related activities and projects that promote the county’s development. Inova also manages Sting Bioeconomy, which means that the foundation now has two top accelerators in two of Region Värmland’s priority areas for smart specialisation: digital health innovation and bioeconomy.
From DigitalWell Arena’s perspective, the merger brings together the chain of needs for start-ups in digital health innovation. From early innovation support to innovators and early-stage companies (pre-incubation), to market validation towards the public sector (incubation) and efforts to scale the services to the market and raise capital (acceleration).
– “We are proud of the start-up environment we have helped to build, while our independence from companies is important for an innovation platform like DigitalWell Arena. Therefore, it fits well with Inova as a long-term owner of these businesses, says Jonas Matthing, Operations Manager for DigitalWell Arena.
The new services being developed are contributing to greater opportunities for the public sector to find new solutions for important needs. One example is the Värmland-based company Habbie, whose digital services for rehab and habilitation are already being used by a handful of municipalities – from Eda in western Värmland to Reykjavik in Iceland. In total, companies from eight different countries have participated in DigitalWell Venture’s accelerator programme, which also highlights the cross-border challenges that exist in health.
DigitalWell Arena’s collective ecosystem also generates better conditions for innovative companies to realise their potential, but also to understand the needs of the public sector. In 2023, the 30 or so companies that have so far completed DigitalWell Ventures’ accelerator programme have attracted capital worth SEK 41 million. In addition, eight completely new services have been created during the year, as well as a number of prototypes used by test users.
A key issue, as already mentioned, is the companies’ ability to understand the conditions for doing business with the public sector. DigitalWell Arena, in collaboration with DigitalWell Incubator, has therefore carried out a feasibility study in 2023 to examine in more detail what support the Swedish incubation system currently offers startups from this perspective. The short answer is that many incubators and accelerators lack this expertise – which can ultimately lead to companies being discouraged from niching themselves towards public customers. Long and unclear decision-making paths, cultural differences and difficulties with funding are some of the reasons cited by the incubation system as the basis for the problem.
At the same time, DigitalWell Arena is already contributing in a number of ways to closing the gap between innovative companies and the public sector. For example, through regular digital meeting forums, such as the Public Sector Innovation Watch, the Innovation Forum and HealthTech 101, to create contact points between the parties.
Further measures include the Demand Acceleration initiative (see above), which enables the public sector to procure innovation and create entirely new services in collaboration with several companies. The move towards a common quality assurance process also benefits both companies and the public sector – where a clear framework can create a larger market, rather than each individual customer setting its own requirements.
Needs-driven research is one of four prioritised areas of activity within DigitalWell Arena. The base for this research is at Karlstad University – where six research groups collaborate on digital health innovation.
The initiative at Karlstad University is known as the “Arena Project”, the aim of which is to open up both interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups and with external stakeholders. The working method of the “Arena Project” is now being discussed as a model for how Värmland can organise research in the region’s other six priority areas for smart specialisation.
During the year, the work at Karlstad University has resulted in some 20 scientific publications and studies. One example is a study conducted by researchers in the Department of Nursing on how a health application can support women in the final stages of pregnancy. Another, conducted at the Department of Computer Science, is investigating how 6G technology can help improve communication in emergency care.
A major national endeavour, outside the direct vicinity of DigitalWell Arena, also involves researchers at Fou Välfärd Värmland. The pilot project has created a great deal of interest among municipalities in reporting data that can increase both reliability and equality in child and youth social care. The data will be analysed by researchers, with the results then fed back to the social services to provide direct benefit in the business, which is a partly new way for academia and practice to collaborate in social services.
The research groups involved in the “Arena Project” are
In addition to Karlstad University, there are several other important anchor points for research. For example, DigitalWell Arena is one of the partners in PREDEM, a national collaboration for the early detection and prevention of dementia led by Karolinska Institutet. As part of this initiative, a clinical research study has been launched at six care centres in Region Värmland. The aim is to investigate whether a digital tool for dementia assessment can work as well as, or better than, the cognitive tests performed with paper and pencil.
Another important research environment is found in connection with Health Data Sweden (HDS) – one of the EU’s digital innovation hubs. HDS is coordinated by KTH and aims to increase both the use and availability of health data. In 2023, Karlstad University has also joined as one of the innovation hub’s partners.
Vi använder cookies för att förbättra din användarupplevelse och för att samla in information om ditt besök hos oss. Läs mer
Cookies sparar information om hur du använder webbplatsen, data som kan återanvändas. Läs mer
Nödvändiga för att hemsidan ska fungera.
Läs mer
Dessa cookies är nödvändiga för att webbplatsen ska fungera och kan inte stängas av i våra system. De används till exempel när du ställer in personliga preferenser. Du kan ställa in så att din webbläsare blockerar eller varnar dig om dessa cookies, men vissa delar av webbplatsen fungerar inte då.
close-cookie-bar
wants-ec-cookies
wants-fc-cookies
wants-mc-cookies
wants-ac-cookies
Mäter användarmönster och skapar statistik.
Dessa cookies används för att samla in besöksstatistik på vår hemsida. Statistiken använder vi till exempel för att se vilka sidor som är populära, och vilka som verkar vara svåra att hitta.
_ga_4XLZVZHWCP
_ga
_gid
