Yesterday, the DigitalWell Innovation Hub was inaugurated. This means that there is a physical gathering place for everyone who wants to develop the digital health services of the future.
- If you have ideas that can improve or change society, this is where you should come, said Lina Svensberg, process manager at Digitalwell Arena.
Magnus Bårdén, Ann Otto Nemes, Henrik Svensson and Håkan Spjuth cut the symbolic cordon tape. Now the DigitalWell Innovation Hub has opened!
The EU project DigitalWell is in its third year and operations are already in full swing. The project contributes to collaborations where business, academia, public and civil society together develop digital services to solve challenges in welfare. Digitalwell is also part of the larger Winnväxt initiative Digitalwell Arena, with a pronounced focus on digital solutions that increase people's self-efficacy for a healthier life.
The hope is that the new premises - DigitalWell Innovation Hub in Karlstad Innovation Park - will make that work even more concrete and become a hub for exciting meetings, innovation and development.
- This is a big day that we have planned for a long time. We are facing major societal challenges in this region, and health is one of them. We have to solve these challenges together, said Magnus Bårdén, CEO of Compare and process manager for Digitalwell Arena.
He was helped to cut the ribbon to the Innovation Hub by Ann Otto Nemes, development manager in Karlstad municipality, Henrik Svensson, development manager in Region Värmland and Håkan Spjuth, department manager for the faculty of central support functions at Karlstad University.
Get the regional management here
All emphasized, just like Magnus Bårdén, the importance of collaboration to succeed.
- Today's challenges are jointly owned challenges that we cannot solve ourselves. I hope that the inauguration of this premises can be a starting point for that collaboration, said Ann Otto Nemes.
To demonstrate both the symbolic and practical importance of the Innovation Hub, Henrik Svensson promised that regional management meetings will be held here. And Håkan Spjuth hopes that the meeting place can both give the university's researchers new societal challenges to tackle and become a hub for involving students.
- We deal with locally produced research with global impact, but it is based on us collaborating with society outside, said Erik Wästlund, docent in psychology at CTF and one of the researchers who has been involved in DigitalWell for a long time.
Lina Svensberg will help business owners and entrepreneurs get the support they need.
Perhaps the opening's most emotional speech was given by Lina Svensberg, process manager at Digitalwell Arena. She works with the companies that will promote digital innovations that increase the opportunities for people to influence their own health. Above all, Lina Svensberg talked about the tool - the innovation support – which is ready to be put into operation. The main message was that it should contribute to beautiful words also turning into action, which trickles down into the business and supports entrepreneurs in realizing their ideas.
- It doesn't help if Karlstad University is world-leading in its research if the entrepreneurs don't know about it and get access to that knowledge, said Lina Svensberg, as an example of how the Innovation Hub can become a bridge between different partners.
Rooms that can open new doors
One of the entrepreneurs Lina Svensberg thinks shows evidence of the kind of community involvement the hubs is looking for is Marie Niljung, who lost both her parents in suicide. Now she is working to create a "digital companion" to a book that prevents other people from doing the same thing.
- Giving a book to a 17-year-old with dyslexia is not a good idea, says Marie Niljung.
What do you hope a place like the DigitalWell Innovation Hub can do for you as an entrepreneur?
- Help me open other doors, for example to Region Värmland, or to universities that can connect with research or help in finding funding.
Be inspired by the content - or create content that inspires others
- DigitalWell Innovation Hub already has an exciting program in the spring. Among other things, Karlstad University's Faculty of Computer Science will hold a workshop on cyber security and CGI will arrange an innovation seminar. The venue will also be a recurring stage for Compares TechTalk.
- Here you can keep track of both planned and upcoming events in the hub.
- It is also important to underline that the Innovation Hub is an open collaboration environment. If you have an activity that in some way attacks societal challenges linked to health and welfare, please contact us!
- More info at DigitalWell Innovation Hub. For booking inquiries contact Compare's event coordinator Sandra Dalåsen. +46 (0)730-25 71 29
sandra.dalasen@compare.se
