Nordic Life Science 1
NordForsk’s R&D programme on digitalization of th
e public sector offers a valuable opportunity to mobilize some of the best R&D environments in and around the Nordic countries to develop new and important knowledge and solutions targeted towards the Nordic welfare model and the welfare society of tomorrow. hope that the COVID-19 crisis teaches us that it is better to be well prepared than having to plan and develop solutions while handling the crisis,” Flåøyen adds. Arne Flåøyen also thinks that it is important to look closer at how the Nordic countries could collaborate more within societal security, such as establishing common storage of equipment, expert networks and having joint response teams. “The closing of the borders between the Nordic countries has affected our societies and the citizens of the Nordics severely. I hope we can develop mechanisms and ways to collaborate that makes closing of the borders between the Nordic countries superfluous,” he says. Apart from this initiative NordForsk, together with research funders from all Nordic countries and Estonia and Latvia, has invested some 55 million NOK and opened a call for proposals for COVID-19 research. The projects must have partners from at least three Nordic counties, or two Nordic countries and one of the Baltic countries. “The project should utilize already existing health data in order to generate new knowledge that could help battle and understand the pandemic,” explains Flåøyen. When it comes to life sciences projects in general, NordForsk has funded several clinically-oriented projects within its research program on health and welfare over the years. “The Nordic countries have a long tradition of cooperating within the life science area. The region has several advantages, such as strong medical research, publicly funded health care, and high-quality research infrastructures including registers and biobanks. There is a clear added value to build on those strongholds in Nordic collaborative projects. The Nordic region has a unique position and could be world leading, for example in personalized medicine research,” says Flåøyen. PHOTO MAUD LERVIK