The successful ecosystem from the Region of Southern Denmark

• What have been the factors for success as a Reference Site: The success of the Region of Southern Denmark as a Reference Site started back in 2007, when a structural reform was put into practice in Denmark. Five new regions were created instead of 14 counties, as well as 98 new local authorities instead of 271. A major reason for the structural reform was to make clearer responsibilities between the health providers and to create stronger economical commitment to support the health infrastructures. The responsibilities within health are distributed as follows;

• The state; Sets the overall strategic frame for the society
• The regions; Have the responsibility for primary care in hospitals and with GPs
• The local authorities; Have the responsibility for assignments close to the citizen, such as health promotion, rehabilitation and social care.

Based on this distribution of responsibility, broad, strong and clear collaboration agreements, supported by IT systems, have been important for the health actors and providers in the Region of Southern Denmark, hence today the regional health eco system (EIP on AHA regional partnership) consists of all relevant partners in the region, which is important  for consistent dialogue and coordination of local and international activities – a very important footwork and infrastructure to obtain long-term success.

The development of a regional health eco system is a strategic process, and in the region of Southern Denmark it has evolved since 2007 from being rather broad and little focused, to focus on how to create a market, and has ended up being very much aligned with the strategic approach of the EIP on AHA, focusing on the triple win approach.

Smart Specialisation Strategy evolvement within health and social care

2007: The Healthy Life (First strategy for the region)

• Very broad and everything was possible
• Small projects and not so much effect

2009: Welfare Technologies and Services (Creating a new market)

• Mainly technologyoriented
• WTR is established to support innovation and private business development

2012: Health and Welfare Innovation

• More integration and breaking down of silos
• Focus on the system and how it can support the development and innovation process
• The triple-win-concept
• Bringing all actors together in an ecosystem

• Added value for the Region from being a Reference Site: Overall, active participation in EIP on AHA, and especially the status of being a Reference Site, has secured profiling and visibility of the Southern Danish ecosystem and the Southern Danish approach to health innovation at European level and also presented the Region of Southern Denmark as an attractive project partner. Being part of a European strategic movement also motivates politicians and practitioners to constantly have a strategic focus on the health sector part of the regional smart specialisation strategy.

More concretely, participating in the EIP on AHA and being a Reference Site has helped to realize:

• A larger and stronger European network and visibility of the Region of Southern Denmark.
• Visits of EU Health Commissioners Tonio Borg (April 2014) and Vytenis Andriukaitis (March 2018).
• Continued building of additional consortia and submissions of applications for Horizon 2020 projects.
• Invitation of senior experts to international workshops / conferences.
• Attracting international delegations to WHINN in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
• Access to companies for market analysis and relationships in health and active aging in European regions.
• Delegation visits to Southern Denmark from public and private organizations from among others, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Singapore, Chile, Korea and Japan.

• Has the digital single market priorities affected the regions activities: Denmark is the most digitalised country in the EU with existing infrastructures that enable access to lots of data. Denmark is also a frontrunner when it comes to accessing and utilizing data particularly when it comes to healthcare-related data, embodied by for example the Shared Medication Record, which allows medical professionals to access up-to-date medical information in a cross sectoral solution.

The Region of Southern Denmark has a strong focus on enabling access to relevant data for the right people at the right time, across sectors. One of the important initiatives is the Generic Telemedicine Platform (GTP), which was recently awarded the SEED Silver Economy Award in the Public Authority category.  The GTP is a platform that can collect home-monitoring-, sensory- and patient reported outcome data and display it in a standardised and recognisable manner enabling healthcare professionals to get a complete overview of the patient and using it in making treatment plans. Data collected in the homes of the citizens is visible through the GTP for all relevant partners involved in the treatment of the patient; hospital, municipalities and General Practitioners. The GTP is integrated to the health information system of the Region of Southern Denmark. The GTP is currently used for pilot projects that can quickly move from idea to testing while the Region gathers useful experiences with collecting, sharing and using sensory -, home-monitoring - and patient reported outcome data. In this set-up ideas can be matured, the business-case can be tested and possibilities as well as barriers along the way can be experienced in a safe framework.

The Region also has a physical and technical Plug&Play test lab that offers state-of-the-art test facilities in a test and demonstration lab where companies, public organisations, municipalities and hospitals collaborate in the process of developing and testing technological healthcare solutions. Plug&Play offers a predefined and realistic setting to test technologies in to enable further development of solutions before implementation. The physical mock up makes it possible to see how solutions will work in the home of the citizen, the hospital, the GP and e.g. physiotherapists and at the same time see how data is accessed and shown in each of these settings. The lab makes it possible to test integrations with the existing IT infrastructure in (South) Denmark and follows the prevailing EU guidelines for storing data in accordance with the national reference architectures in the Nordic countries.

SEED Silver Economy Award in the Public Authority category, opens in new window

Plug&Play test lab, opens in new window

The most digitalised country in the EU, opens in new window