Nykøbing F. Sygehus (NFS) is a development-oriented emergency hospital in Region Zealand. We have a patient base of 150,000 citizens, 77,300 outpatient contacts per year and approximately 1300 employees. We cover a geographic area with relatively large distances and have a population with many elderly and chronic sufferers.

Start-ups are important collaboration partners for NFS. We are under pressure on capacity and experience challenges related to recruitment, due to that we are located far from the university cities. We see the collaboration with start-ups and new, innovative thinking around healthcare services as a tool to deal with those challenges. Smart solutions with a focus on either technology, products or organization that can, for example, automate tasks, streamline workflows or prevent diseases and accidents. We believe that inputs from the outside can provide ideas for new ways of solving tasks, and that technology can support our desire that citizens, to a much greater degree than today, can be treated at home.

We are in the middle of developing a unique innovation culture, where we are passionate about testing new solutions in the clinic, and where doctors and nurses are close to the solutions that the start-ups that we collaborate with are working on. Here, clinicians, researchers and start-ups help each other to develop smarter solutions with scaling potential.

Last year, we inaugurated the Athena House, which brings together innovation, research and clinical training in brand new premises. With the Athena House, we have created a unique opportunity for smart solutions to be developed and tested in the clinical everyday life, without a lot of bureaucracy and barriers. There is also an opportunity for the companies that we work with to borrow office spaces.