EuroBioForum 2012 | 18 April 2012 Presentation by Merja Hiltunen, Research and Innovation Counsellor at the Finnish Liaison Office for EU R&D of Tekes

1. Finnish perspective to the Personalised
Medicine while Bridging towards
Horizon 2020
EuroBioForum 2012, 18 April
Merja Hiltunen, MD, PhD
Counsellor, Research and Innovation
Tekes Brussels Office
Embassy of Finland
DM 913958 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

2. Tekes
the Finnish Funding Agency
for Technology and Innovation
DM 607668 03-2011 Copyright © Tekes

3. Public sector activities of R&D in Finland
PARLIAMENT
Research and
Innovation GOVERNMENT
Council
Ministry of Ministry of Other
Education and Employment ministries
Culture and the and their
Economy
institutes
Academy Sitra
of Tekes Finnvera plc
Finland
Finpro
VTT, Finnish
Technical Industry
Universities Research Investment
Ltd
Centre
Regional
ELY-Centres
Copyright © Tekes

4. Tekes R&D funding in 2011
Total 610 milj. € euros and 1 928 projects
Funding for SHOK
R&D grants research programmes
to companies and 81 milj. €
public organisations
225 milj. €
Research funding
for universities,
research institutes
and polytechnics
203 milj. €
R&D loans for companies
101 milj. €
The funding for R&D includes 18 million euros from EU Structural Funds.
Research programmes of the Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and
Innovation (SHOK) are joint programmes for research organisations and companies.
DM 840918 ja 450969 01-2012 Copyright © Tekes

5. Focus areas of Tekes strategy
Business in global
value networks Natural
resources and
sustainable
economy
Value creation based on service
solutions and intangible assets
Intelligent Vitality
environments of people
Renewing services and
production by digital means
Strategic research areas
determined by the Strategic
Centres for Science,
Technology and
Innovation
DM 909717 Copyright © Tekes

6. 1) What is the state of affairs in Personalised
Medicine in your region / country / organisation?
 Tekes Pharma Programme (2008-2011) promoted personalised
medicine by funding research and development public and company
projects where new molecular biology tools and biomarkers were
developed for diagnostic purposes.
• The programme strengthened cooperation with pharmaceutical non-clinical
and clinical research networks and funded the development of a national
operations model for clinical research in Finland.
 FiDiPro – Finland Distinguished Professor Programme
implemented and financed by the Academy of Finland and Tekes,
provides competitive grants to projects recruiting both international and
expatriates, highly merited scientists who are able to commit to long-
term cooperation with a Finnish university or research institute.
• With respect to Personalised Medicine, Tekes has funded two FiDiPro
projects, which will continue until the end of the year 2014.
DM 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

7. Pharma Programme themes (2008-2011)
Predictive models and methods Chemical production technology
Pharma accelerating and supporting and innovative medical
the drug development process formulations
 Patient samples and registry data  Solutions for synthesis and development
to support research of cost effective synthetic pathways
 Identifying and exploiting biomarkers  New production technologies for
 Understanding pathogenetic promising drug candidates and generic
mechanisms as well as pharmaco- medicines
kinetics and mechanisms of action  Innovative drug formulations for children,
the elderly and for veterinary use
 Drug delivery technologies
The development of a Networked business models
national operational model  Developing business skills
for clinical drug research  Production of innovations and
 Reformation and harmonisation access of new products to the
of clinical processes and market
operations
 Development of therapy-specific
clusters
Copyright © Tekes

8. FinnTrials - Tekes funded Pharma Programme project of
five Finnish University hospitals
 Project aims to develop a national operational
model with internet based supportive
administrative services for clinical research
 The project will create unified principles of action
and the single point of access to speed the
feasibility of clinical trials in Finland
 FinnTrials has made possible for national clinical
research organisations to operate as a network in
Finland to achieve better results of each hospital
district projects
 Connections has been built to ECRIN (European
Clinical Research Infrastructures Network)
collaborations, too
Copyright © Tekes

9. Personalised Medicine as a part of FiDiPro Programme
FiDiPro project 1:
“Translational Research and Personalised Medicine”
• FiDiPro Professor Jonathan Knowles
• Finnish host organisation:
University of Helsinki, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland
(FIMM); Director, Professor Olli Kallioniemi
DM 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

10. Personalised Medicine as a part of FiDiPro programme
FiDiPro project 2:
“Systems Biology of Cancer: Mapping, Methods and Modeling for
the Cancer Genome”
 FiDiPro Professor Wei Zhang
 Finnish host organisation:
Tampere University of Technology, Department of Signal
Processing; Professor Olli Yli-Harja
DM 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

11. Vitality of people
Priorities
• Health promotion
• Preventive healthcare
• Personalised solutions for wellbeing
• Intelligent monitoring
• Utilization of data resources
• Efficient and high-quality social and health care
service system
• Work and learning that regenerate human skills
and capabilities
• Affective and meaningful free time experiences
DM 909717 Copyright © Tekes

12. Vitality of people
Current priority: Personalised health and wellbeing
Tekes Call for proposals 1.1- 28.2.2012 CLOSED
- Strategic openings of research groups
-Public research
-Excellence and high level competences for future businesses
DM 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

13. 2) What are the challenges for your region /
country / organisation?
 Implementing personalised medicine will require a high degree of
collaboration amongst the many stakeholders in the life science and
medical sectors
 Implementation of Medicines Policy 2020 of Ministry of Social Affairs
and Health
• The document Medicines Policy 2020 (Towards efficient, safe, rational and cost-effective
use of medicines) reports on the joint objectives of the social welfare and healthcare
authorities and stakeholders in the field of medicines by the year 2020.
 National network and operating model for biobanks is needed
• Strategic plan and vision
• Resources needed
• Competitive knowledge and business base. Efforts by academia and industry need to
be stepped up
• Biobank Act is intended to come into force in Finland at the beginning of 2013. It sets
new standards on research use of human origin
• European level collaboration (eg. Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research
Infrastructure (BBMRI) is important, too
Copyright © Tekes

14. Horizon 2020 - Priorities for Tekes
1. Broad concept of innovation
2. New forms of innovation activities and user-orientation
3. SME-instrument (and other SME funding modalities)
4. Key enabling competences
5. Evaluation with various excellence criteria
Horizon 2020 has excellent starting point, orientation and target.
03-
DM 369407 Copyright © Tekes
2008

15. 3) What is your expectation of the Horizon 2020
programme and where do you see opportunities for
collaboration?
 Health, demographic change and wellbeing
• Corresponding elements and themes in Horizon 2020 as in our strategy
 Research infrastructures
• Access to high-level infrastructures (such as BBMRI and Elixir) - valuable
 SME involvement
• Strategic investments in key enabling technologies – key competencies
 Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)
• According to the Horizon 2020 proposal, existing public-private partnerships
(PPPs) like IMI may continue to receive support - an opportunity for
collaboration
 FET Flagships - potential
DM 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

16. Future prospects
Personalised medicine is an emerging field which will potentially
bring radical change to healthcare.
It is important to create a better understanding of the value of
molecular diagnostics both to cost effective health care and
better patient outcomes in Europe.
DM 10-2011 Copyright © Tekes

17. Thank You!
Tekes' activities
www.tekes.fi/en
merja.hiltunen@tekes.fi
Copyright © Tekes