Health and life science

With an aging population, the demand and cost for healthcare are soaring. The demographic changes will shift the balance between receivers of care and trained care personnel. Thus, there is a strong international drive to develop new technologies which allow elderly people to continue to live independently in their own homes.

A growing number of Norwegian companies are already engaged in R&D programmes related to digital care and ambient assisted living (AAL). Furthermore, a government white paper on the issue is underway, expected to further boost innovation in this area.

For a more extensive overview of companies and activities related to AAL, please visit the business cluster Norway Health Tech.

Norway has a longstanding tradition in scientific discovery and treatment of cancer.

The Norwegian Radium Hospital, now part of Oslo University Hospital, is renowned for excellence in clinical practice as well as in innovation. Research at the Radium Hospital has led to the establishment of approximately 40 SMEs in recent years.

The integration of explorative, clinical and commercial research forms the core of Oslo Cancer Cluster.

There are also leading scientific communities in neuroscience, particularly in Oslo and Trondheim, with the Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience (CMBN) and the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience (formerly the Centre for the Biology of Memory) being the most prominent examples.

Norway has an internationally leading tradition within in vivo imaging, both for diagnosis and image-guided intervention.

Nycomed pioneered modern contrast agents in the 1980s, while Vingmed Ultrasound has been an international leader in high-resolution cardiovascular imaging. Both companies are now part of GE Healthcare.

Front-line research within ultrasound and MRI is also carried out at the industry-sponsored academic centre in Trondheim. The integration of imaging technologies in clinical practice is being explored at the Intervention Centre at Oslo University Hospital as well as under “Operating Room of the Future” project at St Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim, both of which are open to international collaboration.

The entire Norwegian population of close to 5.5 million people benefits from publicly funded, high-quality healthcare.

There are few obstacles to using medical information from various health registries for research purposes, and Norwegians exhibit a high level of trust and confidence in data management at research institutions and companies. This ensures a vast, but safe, data platform for medical enterprises for the foreseeable future.

Moreover, the Norwegian health authorities have made extensive investments in large population-based surveys, creating an outstanding resource of medical samples and lifestyle data.

Clinical trial units at hospitals and clinics are designed to perform complex and early-phase trials.

Highly educated and skilled doctors and nurses are trained to take part in clinical research, resulting in a reputation of delivering on time and with high quality.

Norway is especially known for groundbreaking research within the oncology field. The clinical trial unit at the Radium Hospital and Haukeland University Hospital has extensive experience in conducting advanced clinical trials.

Norway is also home to an experienced network specialising in paediatric clinical trials.