Succesful international seminar on EU digital single market for eHealth hosted by Tallinn Tehnopol

The purpose was to agree on common goals with partners throughout the EU and launch specific actions to help creating the EU digital single market for eHealth.

 
The participants were  organisations and companies from several EU Member States. The speakers included Deputy Secretary General on e-services Ain Aaviksoo from the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and Terje Peetso, the advocate for eService projects at the European Commission.

Ain Aaviksoo commented on the initiative:

“The Estonian government has decided to prioritize the development of the eSociety, including eHealth, during the next period of Estonia’s European Union policy.

To this end, Estonia can also rely on the comprehensive implementation of digital single market policies taking place under the leadership of commissioner Andrus Ansip.

We have already started consultations with other Member States and with institutions of the European Commission in order to agree on a roadmap of concrete performance targets and actions which will really help realize EU citizens’ right to have their health information digitally processed and shared with patients and other health services and eService providers – even cross-border.”

The seminar brought together dozens of eHealth experts from the public and private sectors of Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Spain. The aim and result of the workshop was to develop a concrete action plan for joint initiatives and take concrete steps towards a digital single e-Health market in Europe.

On the picture: Thomas Karopka from BioCon Valley and the German ScanBalt liaison office taking a lead in the discussions. ScanBalt will be actively involved in the concrete follow-up to the seminar.

The event was organized by Külle Tärnov, head of the Estonian Connected Health Cluster, which supports Estonia’s initiatives and the creation of a digital single market for eHealth services.

“Our goal is to make entering different European markets easier for eHealth companies, and in doing so to help improve the development of entrepreneurship and the availability of eHealth services,” said Külle Tärnov.

“Estonia is known for its eServices, including eHealth, and the favorable business environment we provide for our health tech companies should be the basis for contributing to further developments in the field.

In order to make this work, we should aim to make the market entry process for eHealth companies in Estonia the fastest in the world when it comes to certification, technical and legal aspects.

This way we can promote the formation of innovative companies in Estonia as well as foreign health tech companies’ interest in launching their services here.”

The Estonian Connected Health Cluster led by Tehnopol is a community of health-related companies and organisations in Estonia whose joint goal is to use technology in order to provide better health products and services.

The cluster involves health-tech companies such as start-ups, health IT, medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Tallinn University of Technology, the University of Tartu, Tallinn University, health-related technology development centers, hospitals, clinics and representatives of other user groups are involved in the cluster.

The Estonian Connected Health Cluster is a member of the ECHAlliance and ScanBalt. The cluster is supported by Enterprise Estonia.

Find pictures from the event here.

For further information please contact:
Külle Tärnov
Mobile: +372 5680 0221

Head of the Estonian Connected Health Cluster and Tehnopol business development services