In Norway, the signing of a new collaboration agreement between AstraZeneca, Oslo Cancer Cluster, and Oslo Science City is hoped to mark “closer collaboration between researchers, startups, and pharmaceutical companies”.
Under the agreement, Norwegian startups will be given easier access to residency at AstraZeneca’s BioVenture Hub, whilst Swedish companies will have the chance to “reside at Oslo Cancer Cluster and collaborate closely with their environments in cancer and precision medicine”, as well as research groups from Oslo Science City.
The collaboration follows the announcement last year from the Minister of Trade and Industry that the health industry would be the “fourth national export promotion initiative under the All of Norway Exports programme”, and the development of a roadmap outlining focus areas including drug development, medical devices, and digital tools.
Christine Wergeland Sørbye, Oslo Science City, spoke of the benefits for Norwegian patients “in the form of new medicines and treatments”, as well as the “great potential” the collaboration offers for business development and new jobs in Norway.
Ketil Widerberg from the Oslo Cancer Cluster, said: “International collaboration is essential to scale up Norwegian startups. BioVentureHub can connect our start-ups to international value chains, and it is only a short train ride from Oslo. I think that will be quite effective!”
To learn more about the collaboration, please click here.
In related news, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched its Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH), focusing on aligning resources for country-led digital health transformation through “strengthened collaboration and knowledge exchange” along with supporting the implementation of the Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2025.
