‘WHINN’ing in Europe: Health innovation festival is targeting stakeholders across continent

The Week of Health and Innovation (WHINN) festival has announced its commitment to gathering forces across the whole of Europe to drive health innovation by the year 2020.

This not-for-profit knowledge festival brings together conferences in health innovation and technology and this year will run between 9–12 October, encompassing a total of 12 conferences and 22 activities.

“Last year, WHINN mainly focused on the Nordic region, but this year we are looking look across borders and aim to attract stakeholders from all over Europe,” said director for WHINN, Michaela Andersen. “Among other things, it will be visible through a focused press effort across Europe, and a straight story about WHINN.”

With ageing populations and rising cost of treatments many governments are searching for innovative ways to solve healthcare challenges.

“A high degree of digitisation, strength in the field of health technology, rapid adoption rate and tradition of public/private partnerships make Denmark the perfect laboratory for the pursuit of future health solutions,” added Andersen.

The main aim of the knowledge festival is to provide a framework for innovation within the health sector through culminating the interests of the public, private and professional arenas.

“WHINN has from the beginning been thought of as an international gathering point for health and healthcare innovation,” stated Christian Graversen, CEO of Welfare Tech, the Danish national cluster and hub for innovation and business development in healthcare, homecare and social services. “Our close co-operation partners from Britain and Germany and the rest of the Nordic region are fond of the mix of matchmaking, trade fair and delegation visits. It gives them a deeper understanding of how we work and strengthen our company's ability to export Danish-developed solutions.”

Last year’s attendance included nearly 1,400 health professionals, primarily from Nordic countries, This year, the organisers anticipate this figure to rise to more than 1,500 with attendees from all over Europe.