As Slovenia begins the presidency period of the EU Council, we are very proud to feature our Slovenian ECHAlliance Ecosystem as the Ecosystem of The Month. A true collaborator ecosystem – Slovenia has been a regular partner in our ecosystem coordinator gatherings; partner in our EU project proposals; and best of all, make collaborations with other ecosystems such as Galicia amongst others. I am pleased to say that I attended the launch of the Slovenia Ecosystem, which seems an age away, but we can still see their impact now some years later with the leadership of HealthDay.si and Slovenian Innovation Hub. Enjoy this deep dive into another one of our ecosystems.
-Andy Bleaden, ECHAlliance Ecosystem and Membership Director
1. What is the approximate stakeholder breakdown of your ecosystem?
Slovenian ECHAlliance Ecosystem is run by HealthDay.si and Slovenian Innovation Hub, since March this year.
Our stakeholders are a balanced mix of all key groups, as recommended by ECHAlliance. We’re here to support companies, academia, policymakers, patients, regulators, and other interested parties.
2. Who are the top 5 champions from your Ecosystem?
Better – a leading global company in the management of health data supporting true semantic interoperability
Caretronic – information system with wall tablets for nursing homes and hospitals
Mesi Medical – award-winning modular GP diagnostics
Arrow Fast – software for complex medical devices with fastest certify-and-go-to-market in the industry
HealthLord – patient health record and GP software solution in a uniquely comprehensive package
3. What EU funding/collaboration are you involved with, or you would like to be part of?
Both HealthDay.si and Slovenian Innovation Hub are experienced in various funding schemes, acting as excellent international partners, who also support each other locally. SIH is currently involved in an H2020 project called In-4-AHA, HealthDay.si via its co-founder Technology Park Ljubljana is participating in an Interreg project called ACSELL, with further projects in the pipeline.
Both organisations make a lot of effort towards enabling different members and stakeholders to be involved in national and international collaborations.
4. What are the key priorities and themes for your ecosystem?
Our ecosystem strives towards transforming Slovenian health and care towards higher value, primarily for the patients, but also for healthcare providers, researchers, companies, and society at large. The keywords common to most stakeholders are: #digitaltransformation, #valuebasedhealthcare, #innovativeprocurement, #intergratedcare, #artificialintelligence, #personalisedmedicine and others.
5. What is your primary strength as an ecosystem?
Slovenia’s healthcare services are excellent and despite systemic challenges and pending healthcare system reform, our strength lies in the dedication and commitment of the doctors, nurses, paramedics, researchers, and patient associations. Additionally, the recent awakening of the entrepreneurial spirit within our society is an inspiring step forward. Our champions (industrial and clinical) are becoming recognised international players in their domains.
6. Who are your clinical champions either hospitals, clinicians, and specialities?
Oncology Institute in Ljubljana – for making enormous progress in cancer treatment over the last 20 years, a recognised EU leader, with a world-class cancer registry, at 70 years one of the oldest in the world, for advanced therapies including gene therapy, strong clinical research record, three nationwide screening programmes for breast, cervical and colon cancers
Faculty of Medical Sciences – for perfecting the pharmacogenomics studies by implementation of immediate feedback to doctors via Mobile Health (R)evolution app. The app is a demo project within the Vanguard Initiative Smart Health.
University Clinical Centre Ljubljana – for Prof. Tadej Battelino’s contribution to the research of diabetes in children, as well as Children’s Hospital for advances in digitalisation and transformation into a paperless hospital and their contributions to the lowest national infant mortality in the world.
University Clinical Centre Maribor – for being the site of a large-scale pilot demonstration and evaluation, plus a partner testing the Robotic Nurse in H2020 project HosmartAI.
