A newly established partnership between BioInnovation Institute (BII) and Rigshospitalet will accelerate highly needed innovation in the healthcare sector.
With an insight into the daily life of a hospital and a deep understanding of patients’ needs, healthcare professionals are a natural focal point for rethinking and innovating the healthcare practice. However, only a few decide to pursue an idea and bring new methods and products to the development or implementation phase. The reason is that the process is very time-consuming and often requires large financial investment and close collaboration with important external partners.
The Innovation Center at Rigshospitalet will address this issue by inviting new partners to be involved in clinical development and ensuring that healthcare professionals receive valuable help to select which innovative ideas hold the most potential.
“Open hospital-driven innovation has been a missing link for a long while when developing new solutions in the healthcare sector in Denmark. We want to assist in the journey of bringing research to market so that we can make a real difference for patients. BII has some of the strongest incubator programs in Denmark and has both the financial resources and the professional expertise to play a crucial role in reaching this goal,” says Henning Langberg, Chief Innovation Officer at Rigshospitalet.
A key task in the new partnership between BII and Rigshospitalet will be to scout and mature projects and ideas that can be developed into products by new life science companies. This would be of great benefit for especially the Danish society, according to Jens Nielsen, CEO at BioInnovation Institute.
“There is a lot of know-how and innovative ideas amongst professionals at Rigshospitalet. Nevertheless, we sometimes experience that healthcare professionals need more commercial understanding and knowledge about developing a business plan and raising capital. Thus, we expect a lot from the collaboration with Rigshospitalet, and we hope to assist many clinicians in bringing ideas to life and research to market for the benefit of both patients and the healthcare professionals.”
Smarter solutions are a necessity
Rigshospitalet has an ambition of maintaining its position as one of the leading innovative hospitals in the world. Thus, it is necessary to focus on innovation and develop even smarter solutions to solve both existing and future challenges in the healthcare sector.
“As Denmark’s most specialized hospital, we have an obligation to be a driving force in this development. The ambition of creating an innovative environment at the hospital is to ensure that our clinical practice is in constant development and that we are a frontrunner when it comes to providing the best treatment methods to the benefit of patients and employees,” says Per Christiansen, CEO at Rigshospitalet.
Taking advantage of being neighbors
Since BII and Rigshospitalet are geographically located very close, the partnership will greatly value the innovation community centered around Copenhagen Science City. A wide range of initiatives will be initiated through the partnership, including seminars, workshops, and conferences. These initiatives should be a foundation for bringing even more research to market in the future.
BII has already established several programs that clinicians and healthcare professionals can apply for.