Future is Made in Finland: Digital Health
[Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Playing] [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Ending] Oh my God, that was a very difficult surgery. It was like, oh, so tiring. You know, I wish the future of digital health can help us with - our patients, and maybe provide better services. You look so tired. I am. But guess what I was in the lab and after years of research, - I finally made it. Made what?
I made this. Look at that. What? It's not a dental mirror. It's the mirror that tells you the future. The future? The future, come here let me show you! Look! It looks like we have an event in five seconds.
Hey, we have an event now. Oh yes, we do. We're on air. Welcome everyone to the future is made in Finland webinars series, - which has made for you to have a glimpse about the opportunities - that we have here in Finland. And also see about - the amazing stuff that happens here in this great country. We're already at episode three and today's theme is digital health. We truly believe that the future is made just like how - I made this futuristic mirror. And Finland is a key country when it comes to - contributing to the future of this world.
Oh, and we also have great things happening today - because we will have brilliant minds from the fields of medicine, from healthcare, from diagnostics. We're going to be delving with scientists, showing us all the great - things that we have in this place. And, you know, what's most important is that our day is very interactive. So please guys, you can already interact. And we have professionals also in our panelists.
Now we have two panels today and in one of them, - we'll be talking about artificial intelligence, - and augmented reality and virtual reality - and how those work together to help us in the digitalization of healthcare. We also have real great talents, - who will be talking to us about their futures in Finland - and how the forged amazing careers in healthcare. And I can already predict with my mirror, what you're going to say next. You will be having the opportunity to network with amazing people.
We have advisors from Finnish universities. We have advisors and professionals from different Finnish companies. And you would have the chance to speak with them. All you have to do is at 2:15 pm join the networking event, and - in your platforms that you are right now, go on the lounge meetings tab - click on it and just join any table and join the discussion.
Remember, this is an interactive event and we have professionals right here. Ready to answer your questions. So go ahead. Comment, ask us questions, and to start tell us where are you from? What would be the first thing that you would do when you come to Finland? And also upcoming next, we have our first keynote presentation. And actually this keynote will be from- the vice rector of education Piia Björn. Piia Björn will actually talk to us about what is the future of health and - what will the world look like in 2030 when it comes to life sciences.
So let's all help welcome Piia and her talk. [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Playing] [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Ending] Dear webinar participants, - I'm happy to see that you are interested in changing - the future through health technology. I am Piia Björn Vice Rector at the University of Turku - and it is my pleasure to welcome you to our digital health webinar. During this global pandemic, we all have seen that the key to solving future - health challenges lies in collaboration, companies, nonprofit organizations, - administrations, and universities. They have united the forces to develop novel vaccines - and to overcome crisis in healthcare? Collaboration has also been the secret behind the success - of Turku's health tech industry.
Already before the pandemic, we have developed new solutions for future - health by connecting our researchers and brilliant students with innovative - startups, growth driven companies, large enterprises and other higher education - institutes in Southwest Finland. The long-term collaboration combined - with the best research and world-class education, - has led us where we are today. In Finland, the country of world-class healthcare and digital revolution, - Turku is the Finnish capital of health. The pandemic also showed us that the world is changing - more rapidly than ever. We need to be prepared for the future challenges in healthcare. Cancer, heart diseases and obesity related conditions - cause most of the deaths in the aging population.
We don't know when the next pandemic will spread. Furthermore, climate change puts both our living conditions - and food supply at risk. Health technology innovations, lay the ground for future health. In Turku, we are changing the future of global well-being with projects - and innovation centers that include - professionals across industries and universities.
The Euro bio-imaging is the European landmark research infrastructure - for biological and biomedical imaging. In its headquarters, in Turku, imaging experts provide access, services - and training to state of the art imaging technologies - for life all scientists in Europe and beyond. The Turku PET Centre is one of the largest - and best equipped pet facilities worldwide, - conducting 5,800 imaging studies annually. Turku has been the foundation and leader of Finnish immunological research - for the past 50 years. In the InFLAMES flagship program in cooperation with the industry.
Over 300 researchers make breakthroughs in drug development, diagnostics, - and therapies for personalized medicine. In the Turku Bioscience Centre, researchers open the genome - for discoveries, find new protein targets - and reveal metabolic pathways in health and disease. Health campus Turku is a significant multidisciplinary knowledge cluster - within medicine, social and healthcare; also technology.
It offers unique opportunities for research, innovation and corporate - collaboration and brings together the hospitals, businesses and - institutions of higher education. New professionals of future health are trained - in collaboration with these knowledge clusters and with local companies. The University of Turku and our close partner, Åbo Akademi University - offer international master's degree programs in English, in the fields - in which we have the best, strongest research and also best networks - inside and outside academia. This year, the University of Turku also established a new - faculty of technology that equips students with theoretical and practical- expertise in life technologies. The state of the art research is utilized in medicine, food development,- analytics, and the development of environmentally friendly technologies.
Technological advancements, accelerate innovation in all fields - of life sciences and make us re-imagine the future possibilities. We can't know for sure how the future of life sciences will look like in 2030, - but we are here to find out. We invite you to join the journey here in the student's city of Turku, - where every fourth citizen is either a student, faculty or a staff member - in a higher education Institute. No wonder why 98% of the students recommend us to their friends.
If you are looking for a perfect balance between an inspiring career - and enjoying your life in a cozy city, full of culture and nature. Welcome to Turku! Take a look at our international degree programs - and explore your future career possibilities at the universities, - in Turku and in the innovative companies in Southwest Finland. We cannot wait to meet you in Turku.
Not in the cap of health. I think Piia had my mirror. It was telling us the future of health. I think I should patent this as soon as possible. But next we would - be hearing a discussion between two scientists who have had global impact - in the field of research. And the first is Sirpa Jalkanen.
Professor Sirpa Jalkanen is an award winning - researcher in the field of immunology. And she is also an expert when it comes to collaboration - with businesses in the medical field. She has over 300 publications, more than 10 patents, - and she's one of the 25 national level scientists - or professors in Finland. Hold on a second. I just had to look at the past. Do you know that Professor Sirpa Jalkanen was featured by - the Seattle times in an article entitled - "Why can't we be more like Finland?" Can you see the impact is not just on a national and international level, - but it's also inspirational. Our second guest is Professor John Eriksson.
Now Professor John Eriksson also is a researcher and a professor. And actually he has a double role here because he understands - the cell biology at a very close level. He looks at how cells talk - and work with one another. But he himself, - I would say he is a head of many cells in Euro bio-imaging, - where they have people and collaboration with 137 countries around Europe. And, guess what? The headquarters are here in Turku.
So let's go and hear the discussion between Sirpa and John. [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Playing] [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Ending] [Rock instrumental music] [Playing] [Rock instrumental music] [Ending] Hello, good morning. Good morning. How are things? Things are great.
I was thinking this morning, a little bit about the - history of the campus that we can see behind us. It's 30 years since it started. And so many things have happened. It's amazing. So I was reading this old newspaper story, from those days, and then it - was envisioned that we would have a BioValley here and it would be - in a place with lots of fancy buildings. A little bit like Silicon Valley, - which is on the other side of the Atlantic. But now we don't have that.
I think there are some markets, but we have a BioValley - it's here in Turku, it's real but it's just, all over the city. Have you been thinking about that? Yes, I have. I have been thinking many times how far we have really gotten- because when we were young, - I think we had the vision that we work together. We collaborate with all actors, including, city of Turku - and both universities, Turku University and Åbo Akademi University.
And I think now it worked, nobody believes that it will work. But it has worked. That's true. You know, we were younger! Yes, we were younger! Absolutely, but it worked! And at the end of the day, we got this building, - which is called BioCity. And obviously it's about bioscience, molecular bioscience, - and that's a collaboration between the universities.
We have a collaboration with corporations, also the, - university of applied sciences there and the collaboration with - the hospital. All is there a board. And then also came Turku Bioscience Centre, the core facility, - which was a new idea in those days. Yeah! It was an absolutely new idea.
And it just meant that we get all these, operator run - core facilities, really fancy ones, which we, as scientists could not - really run properly, if it was on us. So it is really great that we collected the money. We applied money and they build the whole system. So I'm really proud of it.
Yeah, we can't be proud because, now we can see that this principle - of open science and open access is something that the - European Union and everybody else is fostering around the world. But we had those ideas, 30 years ago. So that's pretty cool, I think. And then if you think about Turku Bioscience Centre - in the beginning, we had fancy machines. And I think both of us remember that some of our graduate students - had to spend a lot of time to just learn the machines. But then came the support personnel, - so that each machine has a support person and so forth.
And that was a game changer. Absolutely, and then the meaning with open access. It just means that you can be a risk group, - poor group, young group, old group and all can use these facilities. Exactly. But there is one, I would say bad thing. Now it's depending only on our brains, we can't complain - that we don't have machinery. So that is kind of sad. [John:] Yeah. We cannot. No excuses! [Sirpa) No excuses!
[John:] So all the machines are available. They're there. The pricing is quite affordable and it was not like in the old days - when you had to, knock on some famous professor's door - that "could I please use your machine?". That's what's different. But now if we think about all this development. What has happened in terms of science? So we have collaborations, many innovations related to cell signaling - to biomechanics, to cancer, - many things related to really basic science in cell biology. And of course, inflammatory diseases, inflammation - and the whole immune system. And there, you had some really nice developments - quite recently, InFLAMES came in. That's pretty impressive.
[Sirpa:] It is really, something that I have always dreamed, because - we have very strong immunology history. This is because my supervisors - a couple, were very international. This is when I was younger. And brought here also back then, very famous visitors. And so that generation, - they are trained and are now actually in charge. And then we collected our forces, - made application based on immunology and immunology based drug development. And that is something that Turku is really strong in - regarding the whole Finnish scenery.
And there is also that point here in Turku that, - drug development is really one of the focus of this area. And we have in InFLAMES, several drug industrial - partners in the system so that we can really get our discoveries - much easier to the industry, than earlier times, I think. How is it? InFLAMES now, this is flagship and, - it's this new instrument that Academy of Finland has - for supporting research regions, really the whole campus. And, I recently saw you had a presentation on the InFLAMES flagship.
And I think I have it here on the computer. There were quite a few developments recently, would you care to share? Yeah! Yeah! Let's take a look. So we have now 50 PIs, in InFLAMES. [Sirpa:] And they have different, types of expertise. So there is the core made by our immunologist. And then there are a lot of different people who I would say - have important things related to our InFLAMES.
And I could say that we have a Professor of Ethics, Professor of Health Economy. Those things don't come easily to mind, but they are there. And of course the whole bioimaging, via you and some - other very important structures like, - the center of disease modeling, where we have animals.
And then, we also have the supporting personnel and that's great. Because the rector really invested. We have our own communication specialist, - that of course the scientist need. Then we have a project manager.
And we have, also many other supporting personnel like, - bioinformaticians, which come via the university, - on top of the money we get from the Finnish Academy. That is not very small money. But we kind of now a little bit stressed - that we really want to get to the goal we promised, when we got the money. And now I see you have quite a few recruitments, - young PIs, and then also lots of visiting professors, as you said. And I think this influx of new blood, - but also of opinions and ideas from the visiting professor. That's great.
Yeah! I think that those are extremely important because we have succeeded by - getting these visiting professors who are really on the top of their fields. And when they came here. They have all promised to come here every year, for a certain time. When they are here, they are giving lectures, mentoring younger people, - going around asking what's going on.
And then I think it's also great that, via these interaction - our youngsters can get great labs for their post-doctoral - period abroad and all that. I think it's really beneficial. Yeah, that's great. And speaking about visiting professors, actually today, - we have, frontiers of science seminar with one of the professors.
So he's, Teng-Leong Chew from Janelia Research Campus - and he's going to give a lecture from his home and because - it's a seven hours behind us, then the seminar will be at three o'clock. So that will be what is it, seven o'clock his time. Quite early. So I think InFLAMES captured many things that - has happened, into one organization. But of course, on the fringes we have lots of things. And speaking of imaging, I think the imaging development reflects well, - what happened in infrastructures. So that, first we had our baby days.
We were training as toddlers. But then we were learning while toddling. And now we have pretty amazing infrastructures. And one of them is obviously imaging, - which is sort of my bread and butter these days. And, and that was a long story, but of course we have many strongholds.
One of which is that, down the street a few blocks from here. We have one of the biggest PET centers in Europe. [John:] I guess, in the world, which is very successful. But then also in cellular and molecular imaging, we had lots of experience. And as you remember, when we were younger. There was Stefan Hell in the corridors.
Yes, playing trumpet in the evening! He did something else too. Yes, he did a little bit something else. And he had amazing ideas. Nobody wanted to fund him in those days. But Academy of Finland gave a project to him and Professor Erkki Soini. And at the end of the day, those inventions resulted in a Nobel prize. Yes! Yes, very nice! So 2014, there was a Nobel prize for iris super-resolution imaging.
And in his thank you speech, Professor Stefan Hell, who is nowadays in Göttingen, was really thanking about - Finnish funding agencies and, also the environment here. So that actually resulted in - we now have an international organization, pan-European, - 137 centers around Europe. So we can sort of imagine them around there. And the headquarters are here and you are the head. I'm the head. That's my daytime job, apart from being a professor. So again, let's see.
Now I had a few slides also about that. Let me put the glasses on. Yeah, always good to have glasses. So of course that's about open access.
So we know the revolution that has happened in imaging technologies. But you have poor access and now you have open access. And what you have is 33 nodes, - which are divided on as I said 137 centers and close to 50 technologies. So in short, you have the gateway to the best imaging in Europe. And it covers the whole range, - from really, really small to even human imaging and clinical imaging.
And as we say in Euro-bioimaging, - the sky is the limit, but not the resolution. So that's a small inside joke. But here you can see the different nodes. And in Finland, we have two of them, - one in medical and one in biological imaging.
Then divided on three plus three centers. And we have Turku coordinating both nodes. Then we have Helsinki, Oulu and Kuopio as partners, - and similar arrangements around Europe. And the idea has been that you have the national imaging centers. You put a little bit more money, on the European scale.
And then you get this platform of European imaging excellence. And you get all the support you need. You get data analysis, best practice, training, and so forth. And there's a lot of technology development like Stefan's technology. Stefan Hell when he discovered this new idea. It took 15 years before it became a turnkey commercial technology.
So the idea is to make the development a little bit faster also in this respect. And so we have quite a few companies a board. We have an industrial board there to help us.
[Sirpa:] Yeah, this is really great. So that we have everything here. And then we have access in your system or network to all those places, - which have something that we don't have.
Even though we have almost everything. And the nice thing I think is that the European Union - is now supporting infrastructures quite a lot. Especially when it comes to infectious diseases, because of obvious reasons. We had a small problem here in the past two years. And then also cancer is very, very important. And I think we can bring home some bacon through this organization.
Yeah, so of course now we need young people. I mean... Yeah, absolutely. Because science works in a way that, - it's kind of you are a teacher and you hope that your students are smarter. Become much more successful than you yourself.
I think that's the meaning of the whole science. And that's why we would..... I would at least love to have here really smart young people.
Yeah, I would actually love to come here as a student myself. But we're a little bit too old. But maybe we do have postdoc later. So we'll see. But anyway I think - now would be the time for students and post-docs to come here. Because not only do we have excellent career development opportunities. We have all these corporations here, lots of academic groups.
But then we have several masters programs and their in English. And they relate to these strongholds. So we have drug development, imaging, health sciences. Lots of interesting things. And then when they are finished, they can go out to industry or then continue as Scientists. Which is a great job by the way. We always complain.
But it's pretty nice at the end of the day. So, if you think about the future - one should really consider that the sky is the limit. So we can do amazing things. We have established this platform. So now, we shouldn't be inhibited. Because there is also quite a lot of funding around.
Yes. I don't know. Time is running in good company, as they say. I have a meeting pretty soon, so....
Maybe, we need to end this discussion now. Yeah, I had a start-up actually. So can you show me before you go to the meeting. So let's go, new adventures are waiting.
But I could show you a little bit later. Let's do that. [Rock instrumental music] [Playing] [Rock instrumental music] [Ending] Did you just see that? Two world renowned professors sitting, having a cup of coffee. And the humility and how open they are - to collaborations with all around the world. Like you can see Professor John Eriksson and Professor Sirpa Jalkanen - and all the great things they've done and yet they want to do more yet. They're like, yeah! I think they're actually young at heart. They were talking about them being a bit older.
But I think they're very young with heart. And thinking just about how much collaborations - can lead to great things like a Nobel prize. And a person playing the trumpet in the halls of the corridors. That's a great war culture. That was a fantastic talk. And again guys, -
please feel free to ask your questions right away. We have professionals here just for you. So next up we have a great panel discussion, that will be - on the topics of artificial intelligence, virtual reality. Oh, we're talking about machine learning, gamification etc. All the good stuff that are going to revolutionize. It's going to be moderated by Ilkka Rytkölä.
Ilkka is the fascinating innovator and he's an inspiring Naval architect. He's also a senior advisor at the Turkey University of Applied Sciences. And when it comes to things, he said, digitalization, innovation, - Ilkka is an expert, and he has more than 30 years of experience - when it comes to international and Finnish industry. So floor is all yours Ilkka! And we're going to hear this discussion.
[Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Playing] [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Ending] Great to have you here, gentlemen today. And, nice to have you here Mika, - and you are the head of the future technologies laboratory. And, Esa you are a Senior Data Scientist. That's just great, and Petteri you are coming from the ADESANTE company. Yes! And Jarkko from MVision.
Great! It's really nice to have you here. Actually we start with the easy question first. So, Mika, could you briefly explain what the virtual reality is? Okay, I would say that if a scuba diver and you are using mask. So now you can imagine that you have a mask. But everything what you can see it's digital.
You are in the aquarium or so on, but it's digital. So, we can create the environments. Whatever you would like to see. Okay! So virtual really? Yes! And, this next one goes to the data scientist. Of course, so when we are talking about artificial intelligence. How would you explain that Esa? Maybe in very brief details. So basically you have usually software computer program.
That gets data and learns something from that data. Learns to do some specific task based onthat data. It kind of mimics the human, but it's only limited to that single task. And Petteri, I have understood that your company - uses virtual reality in medical health.
So would you explain more? That's correct, yes. We are developing a surgery planning tool. Which is actually AI powered surgery planning tool. For planning surgical procedures.
But we are utilizing virtual reality for visualizing findings from data. Visualizing findings from MRI and CT scans - makes it easier for surgeons to do have planning plan for surgical procedures. To making drawing, markings measuring in immersive environment.
Nothing disturbing them, because they can focus - fully on the picture board they are seeing. [Ilkka:] So are really making the surgeries in virtual reality, or ? Unfortunately not. We are just the planning tool. But we are heading towards enabling - fully autonomous robotic surgery in the near future.
The first prototype shall be ready in this winter by the way. [Ilkka:] That's very interesting. How about Jarkko then. I understood that you are using also AI in your company. How do you do that? And what you do actually? Yeah! So at MVision, we are producing deep learning - algorithms at the moment that can basically automatically detect, - several different volumes in the body of the human. From a computer tomography, which is a CT image or MRI images.
We have roughly 150 different volumes, - liver, heart, lungs, different lymph levels and so on. And all of these are basically done in less than a minute. Typically all of these are automatically, so it means that you - basically have a 3D volume of all of those volumes. And they can be used in cancer radiotherapy - to do the treatment planning. And typically a doctor would spend, nowadays, roughly one to two - hours on single patient doing these, delineations of the organs. But with AI, this reduces down to 10 minutes.
And it basically increases the consistency between humans - because their starting points are similar. [Ilkka:] Okay, and have you had similar experience on your side. That you're saving time somehow? [Petteri:] Yes, there are clinical studies even available about doing - surgery planning in virtual reality makes planning more precise - than with conventional, imaging technologies, what they have in - in the hospitals currently in their use in, in clinicians use.
But also it helps to reduce operating theatre time, - and reduce surgical failures, near miss events - and even unwanted or unexpected death cases. Okay, very important. Actually our panel is also about, synthesized data. Could you Esa explain for a bit about what that is because - it's data, but how to synthesize it. Yea! Well, when we are talking about health data. It is always very critical to be sure that it remains private.
So that privacy doesn't leak from the patient to any other person, - that person does not want to give it. So basically we are building AI based tools. Where we synthesize data based on real patient samples.
But this process where we generate the synthetic data is such that - we eliminate the possibility that any patient would be such, that we - could recognize that this patient was among those whose images, - for example, brain images were there. And this is very important thing of course to be able to do that. So that privacy is never compromised. And on the other side we can win a lot. Because we can produce as much material as we like And we don't any more need. Once we have this AI that is able to produce those sensitize images.
We don't need access anymore - or need any heavy process to get permission to use any patient data. While we have these synthesizer AI that produces those images. Which can, for example, Jarkko use in their studies. Yes! And, we are doing a lot of research on both parties. So on the university side and on the companies sides.
Could you Petteri explain for a bit, - what you have been doing in research side? We have had in the past several - co-innovation projects together with the university. Where we also have had clinical parties involving in intervals. So we have had science, research, companies together - making these great things that coming from Finland. [Ilkka:] Great then. How about Jarkko on your side?
Absolutely! So it is crucial element in Finland - that we have such an infrastructure between the universities and, - well, all the educational organizations and the private sector. I mean, for example, in our case, we were established in 2018. Which is just a bit more than three years ago.
And now we have like 17 full-timers, - plus 20 part-timers. But of those full-timers we already have employed three students, - that were doing their master's thesis for us, for the industry. So, this is a very good example of this kind of a collaboration, where we - we need, you know, experts that, that learn the industry AI. How to implement, how to develop them.
We have the expertise, to say where to go. But of course we need people to realize it and learn. And ultimately they will, of course surpass our personal knowledge, - and be the experts in the end. So in this process, three of the 17 full-timers are already, - drawn from the Academy. Which is a quite good percent.
Very good! And to continue on that path, - Petteri what kind of things, these students - should know or people who are coming to work for you, for example. What are the kind of areas you are interested in right now? [Petteri:] I could continue easily from Jarkko's comments. But first of all, this cooperation between - the university and the companies is extremely important part - of the whole developing process of the new things. And we also have several people - coming from the bachelor degree studying background into our company. Working couple of years maybe here.
Developing some components for our products. And whether they have decided- to go further, studying their master's thesis, maybe to somewhere else. Maybe to Seoul, South Korea, or some somewhere else, but, - or,coming back to Turku University. But knowledge and skills is the one what we definitely need from a university. And both will be absolutely used heavily in Finnish health tech industry. The international point is important.
I mean, as in our company most of the people are international actually. Meaning that they come somewhere else than Finland. And, one of our co-founders is from Pakistan, who studied in Stockholm,- and in Oulu the north part of Finland.
And now came to Helsinki and, I'm hearing Turku. So definitely international people are - in the business and in the academy at the moment. This is exactly what you also said earlier Mika that, - Could you explain also how international they are on the study side? Yeah, I would say that. Of course ICT -
It's a very international area. All the terminology, it's easier for us to speak in English than in Finnish. And we have lots of students annually studying in our game lab.
And, we have actually, for example after graduation started working in ADESANTE as engineers. So, it's built inside. It's very fluent way, how we are doing it.
Why is that? I mean, what is so special in Finland that we are able to do this? I mean, we are out here, academy and company sitting next to each other, - Why is that possible? Yeah, we are small place and small population. And I think we have to be international if you want to succeed. And, one more thing about our innovation, our ecosystem.
So for example, business Finland is one of the funding agent, - with whom we have actively cooperated. There is for example, one project where ADESANTE was involved with us. And we develop data remember application for our headsets.
And it was about, identifying, early phase dementia. And when we were creating that application - and conducting first research activities. So students, they were involved in every corner. From the very - beginning, from the planning phase until at the end in the testing phase. And that's one way how we are integrating those students in this - business-related research activities from the very beginning.
So directly when they are studying. Yes! Yes! That's part of it. May I also add something for that? The funding in every phase of developing company is very important. But funding for a project is also very important. Mika already mentioned about the business Finland.
But we have publicly funded universities, - publicly funded hospitals with resources we are able to use for making science, - for making innovations, creating both further. [Jarkko:] And maybe I can add that of course, this is a welfare country. This is the underground or the ground for Finnish culture. But the Finnish culture, in my opinion, is that- I think we are a quite young nation compared to some of the older, - nationalities in Europe. And, that makes us in the... The organizations here are flat in there. 'There' I mean, -
that professors or CEOs are basically talking with - all the employees at the same level. We don't want to make these distinctions like that. We want to make the culture very open - and be in that way a flat organization.
I think this is a great, detail of Finnish culture. True, true. How about in your company, Petteri? You are at the CEO and sitting next to us. So we need to remember that we are still very small start-up company.
So I need to do a coding. I need to pay the bills. And get resources for the company. So definitely all tasks are done here by me of course. It goes to the company. But our communication is totally open - and we don't hide anything. We don't have any secret agendas.
And cooperate with technology giants, like Nvidia and - ABB robotics and, it's part of the Finnish culture. Like Jarkko just mentioned that we collaborate. Yeah, that's really true. And, just a bit back to the future talents. How would you really describe that? What type of talents you are needing? And how would you specify those? Is it all types of talents or, just the AI talents? Jarkko for example answer.
Okay, yeah, so this is a very good question. Of course in the end, we need all types of people in a business. Meaning that we need, those that do for example in our case, the almost basic research, at least at some level. That they do the development of, for example, the AI. So yeah, AI engineers are of course needed in today's - businesses, almost everywhere. Everybody knows that, but of course we also need the more traditional - DevOps, all these ICT are people.
But not only that, we also need people - who are professionals, in some of the domains. Like if we are talking about health care. We always need to - have some specialists who have some kind of background in some of those domains. Like in our case, we have to have a specialist in radiotherapy, - or then it would be something else. But if I would kind of - try to give a high level of feature of a person who I would like to hire. It would definitely be, if I first look at the CV, of course it - makes, you know, if you have a good education, it's one.
But that's definitely not everything. Another, sometimes even more important point might be that this. If a person if he or she has done some- thing practical in that field already. Maybe attended some kind of competition, maybe an AI competitions. They at least done something, even if the ranking is not top 20 or 10.
If you are somewhere there, it tells the employer that this person is - really enthusiastic and they want to know what they can do. If there is something, some kind of a project or - a hobby, besides the studies. I always think that's a very strong point. [Ilkka:] So Petteri, do you agree? [Petteri:] Yeah, I fully agree. And like we spoke there on the backstage. It would be important character of a human being of the students.
But there has to be an enthusiasm to learn new things. Follow the market, follow what is happening around, - and then taking all the best pieces together and utilize both - in daily practices, whatever doing, studying, or working in the companies, - but developing the person itself. Yeah, please. I would also underline that this activity, what you can show in your- portfolio, inside in our education system, we have a game jams.
We have a hackathons. We have also, start-up ecosystems, incubators. Also one where students are able to be active. And it's pretty much, - what do you want to do? And so on for the employees.
And, just to sum up, I mean this very interesting discussion. How would you, - kind of think that the future of health technologies is? We heard something about robots, so - would Petteri actually carry on from there. But you can all answer. [Petteri:] The future will be more amazing than we could ever discover.
But in our business perspective, - in a few years we expect to see robots operating - autonomously human being without surgeons being remotely controlling - those robots at all. Starting from a shallow procedures, like - removing some moles on these kinds of things. But going deeper and deeper, to the more challenging cases. [Ilkka:] Okay, that's also just a bit scary, but very interesting. [Jarkko:] Well, I would also kind of give the counter point to that. We should not think that at any time soon, - humans would be replaced by the AI or robots.
Meaning that, we need to have these experts verifying - of course, what the AI is doing. And for example, in our case, in the radiotherapy - I would not want any doctor to use - the AI results as they are. Even though they are mostly right.
But in the end, the doctor has to have the final review, - and approval for whatever the AI has decided. Human control! Human control needed! Machine supports and human decides. Exactly! Okay. Do you have anything else to add to that? No. We are all the time getting more and more out of the data, -
and we can build on top of that. But as I said, human decides - we support the human to make clever decisions. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you.
You're welcome. [Khalil:] Whoa! Oh my God. That was a great discussion. That was a really great discussion. I mean, - think about it, artificial intelligence. You don't need my mirror anymore. You can just use that to predict how your surgery is going to go. And make your time more and more efficient.
And, what's more also fascinating is how the companies - would use students to do the research. So it's just a win-win situation. And as the day is unfolding, we can see how we've got - researchers for you guys to tell you more about scientific - things that happen in Finland. And now that we moved on, - we had a panel discussion with companies - who integrate research into their activities. Oh, yeah and, best for last. You see now we're trickling down to the actual talents.
Who are working in healthcare. Who are plowing their future in Finland. And we have a lovely panel discussion with three talents in our next panel. So stay tuned and see you guys in a jiffy. [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Playing] [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Ending] Hello again, everyone.
Right now, I'm going to put my mirror aside because we have very interesting - people with very interesting stories. And I'm going to start with Dado. I know Dado personally, and he's a good friend of mine. What's your story Dado? Well, my story in Finland, it starts three years ago, where I came for - the master degree studies and I came just by myself. Didn't know much about - Finland, except it has a beautiful nature and, you know, ice hockey. So I just came to study, but three years after I'm here, I stayed and - work now and I really can't complain.
I must say I'm happy to be here in Finland. And also with you guys. Thank you very much! How about Carolina? Tell us your story! Well, it's pretty much the same story. When I came to Finland, it was 2015 and again I also didn't have - that much clue what's going to happen to me. How is it, Finland? I didn't know anyone, but here I am. And it's my sixth year already here.
And it's certainly a sign that I do enjoy my journey here. So here I am a doctoral student at Turku University. [Khalil:] Wow, that's beautiful. It's so interesting to see how things - unravel and, you know, surprises keep coming after one another. And you just.
[Tarek:] If only they had a mirror! [Khalil:] If only they had a mirror. Indeed! [Khalil:] How about you Meghadipa? [Meghadipa:] Oh, well, no lucky mirror - in my case. But I came here also three years ago as a master's student. And, now I am here working - in an invitro diagnostics company, Archie international. I've already been working there for two and a half years and - Turku was supposed to be a place that I come to study, - but it ended up my home.
[Tarek:] Wow! That's a powerful statement. It ended up your home. Actually, if you're working in the diagnostics industry, - I'm very interested to know, like, how does it feel like? or - How does it look like working actually here? and also a followup question- What are the challenges? Ooh, that's a tough one, but that's a really good question. So the thing with diagnostics is that you can really see how, - what you're doing in your daily life is making a difference. And - what your work is, making an impact in, reducing the time that - patients are suffering from a disease and how fast they get their results. And how you can actually make a difference in reducing, - how much they suffer, how quick they get their results. And you really may feel like you're making a difference.
And that is the most satisfying thing about being in diagnostics. But, the challenge is that there will always be a new disease. There will always be a disease that has... That you're trying to develop a test for, or you're trying to - find a cure for, depending on what end of the research you're in. But the gratitude that you feel is huge.
But the challenges are also endless. Thank you for sharing. And this was very insightful for us - because we want to know, like, how do you feel on a day-to-day basis. And we need to be now about the future that has made in Finland. So how is it like working in Finland? A lot of people are considering like, - wow, how's it like here? It's too dark. It's too cold.
How do you feel working here? [Meghadipa:] I think that the work-life balance is excellent. Here, it's really not just about enjoying your work, but it's about - enjoying your life, enjoying your time with your family, your loved ones. And that really makes a big impact on your mental health and allows - you to enjoy your time other than just. Well, it's really important -
to enjoy your work, but it's also really important to enjoy your time - outside of work. Which I think a lot of people in Finland are able to do. And that's why Finland is one of the happiest countries in the world. [Tarek:] The happiest country in the world. If I may make that correction.
Absolutely. I think that work-life balance is something - actually I personally came here for. And because we are something from nine to five, but - we are ourselves from five to nine. So thank you for sharing this.
How about Karolina? How's it like working here in the labs, - and you're like at state of the art facilities, so what's going on. Yeah. It's maybe a bit different from the industry, such in a sense of like, - how much data and what kind of results you want or expect to produce. But of course, this is my experience, it is like one of the greatest one - I would say, because there is a lot of opportunities. Like from - me, I'm doing my doctoral research on cancer, like in cancer film.
Therefore I totally could say from my personal experience, we have so - many amazing facilities at Turku University, - and I am a member of Sirpa Jalkanen's group. So, which we've heard already before. So of course this is an amazing experience and I totally agree - with you that we have here, the - balance between work and your social and your private life. So when no one expects you to be, in the lab 24/7, and - you have a lot of freedom in a way, if I could say so, - like you could plan your own experiments.
And, of course there is all the time support if you need to. So you could also all the time, contact to your supervisor, have a really - nice discussion, very productive, which may help you to, - kind of go a bit further in a way. But yeah, so overall, from my personal experience, - I would say Turku University and Sirpa Jalkanen's group - is an amazing place to be. [Khalil:] I think I totally agree - with them both. And also you, that there's a very good work-life balance. I mean, I remember when I came to Finland, I had this mentality - that, I have to work 24 hours, in the lab. I want to sleep in the lab.
I remember days that my boss or supervisor would just come and - be like, "Hey! Enough research". Let's go to the sauna. I'm like, I don't have a sauna shorts. He was like,"Nope! Don't worry". I got you. Let's just go. That's exactly true. But what I'm wondering is you guys came here on average three years ago - and I mean, it seems like it's pretty quick to move on from studying into - getting a job or like settling down. And did you face any challenges or was it super easy? Well, if I get to look in your past mirror, - there will be so much to look at.
I think our panel time is not enough just to look. But I just graduated, like me personally - I just graduated maybe one year ago. and I'm already working for six months and, well, it's a funny story.
I actually graduated from biomedical imaging - and I'm actually the coordinator for the same program. So I get to see a whole different side of the medal. So I'm from the different side. And now I have a full perspective on it. And it's very nice and things moved quite rapidly.
I didn't expect to have this kind of job. I really appreciate it. And it's super nice. So in a way it's, something that usually - I wouldn't expect to jump in straight after my studies, but - yeah, it's Finland. So I guess it works and it suits us. Actually I've heard from, Khalil earlier - that you've had some challenges, getting that job. A little bit. There was a little period after the graduation where I wasn't sure with how I want to proceed.
I did a lot of lab work and then, I thought PhD would - be more of a commitment, but I also wanted to change. I also wanted to see if I can do something - similar but different, if you know what I mean. So it's not purely lab work, but it includes some. So I went for it and it worked out. So I got the opportunity to work for the - Åbo Akademi now in Turku bioimaging. And this is one great thing about Finland. That actually it has more -
opportunities than say if I had a degree in biomedical imaging, - I don't necessarily have to be only in the lab, so that there are - much broader, opportunities. And I got to see that and I actually got one. So I'm very grateful for that. Actually, this is interesting because we're dentists - and we're here with you with talents.
So it's true that I think the work does not define who you are. And I think it's tying into what you talked about being home - and what Karolina talked about, that work-life balance. I think that's quite interesting. So if some of the talents, - the future talents who are going to join us here. If they're coming here, what would you tell them? as a piece of advice of what to look for? How to, how to be the great success examples that you guys are today? Because I know that under every tip of the iceberg, there's a lot of work.
Like they were not born that way. We all know that. And you guys have been working hard, so maybe we can start with Dado. Well, I would definitely recommend them to take a shot. Because it's worth it. And it might seem scary at the beginning. It's called new country, most likely, very different culture, that our - future talents are getting into, but it's definitely worth a shot.
And I was the same. I just tried it. But then as Meghadipa said, I really stay and - I feel especially Turku is my town. Turku is your town? I really feel like that. I have to say that because it's really from my heart. I really feel super comfortable here. And it's definitely.
There's a lot of work, but again as my colleague said, - it's a lot of other stuff, than life to it. So it's all in one. So definitely go for it if you have the opportunity or single wish. So definitely I would recommend it. Single wish. Oh my God, that's powerful! He said something else, and something else. I think you're an artist.
If I heard correctly, you have an artist side of you so that's good because - you get to create and you get to be who you are when you're creating. And it was very important. He actually creates music, - he's part of a group that's revolutionizing the music - and the industry here in Turku. So from biomedical imaging to... You put me on a spot now. You're Khalil's friend,-
So he threw you under the bus. Yeah, well that's what friends do. So thank you. But yeah, there's also time for stuff - that you are interested, in artistically or where ever. You can always find the balance here. And that's the beauty of Finland.
Thank you so much. How about Karolina? Well, maybe I would speak for myself. So I would say the challenge, which I face personally, it's - maybe a bit of different mentality, different environments. So it still takes some time to adjust. So I would say sometimes like the social interaction with - other people may be challenging, but I would give an advice.
So go for all the events, which are organized for students. Because as far as I know, still, there are many things happens unorganized - and like try to be a part of a community because, therefore, it's like will - help you a lot to get to know other people, to be, you know, together and - not feel lonely or someone like this. And another thing, it's not a challenge. I would say it's a great thing because everyone speaks English.
So once I'm talking to someone from different countries, like - PhD students somewhere else in Europe, they say it might be a very challenging when everyone speaks the language and sometimes like just on a daily basis. No one speaks English. So in Finland, it's not the case. And it's very useful. It's very helpful that you're like, - you could all the time interact with other people, - which is one of the most important thing I would say. [Tarek:] Oh, absolutely. We're social animals at the end of the day. We are, yeah. [Tarek:] Thank you Karolina..
[Tarek:] How about Meghadipa? [Meghadipa:] My one advice would be to - keep yourself open to possibilities and opportunities. Like Dado mentioned when we came three years ago, we didn't - really know what to expect. We didn't know what was beyond, - just an education. But when we opened ourselves to possibilities -
by networking, by volunteering, by participating in events and - meeting new people, I think we started to open our self to a life. And that is what we all now have. So it was that first decision to like get out of our comfort zone, - get out of the definition of being just a student. [Tarek:] Just a student. To living lives as expats and being successful expats and - being able to pursue hobbies, being able to pursue dreams that - are just outside nine to five. And I think that is what - makes us feel alive at the end of the day.
[Khalil:] Alive and at home probably. So this is fascinating. I mean, let's continue with you Meghadipa. Since we're in an event that talks about the future and future made in Finland. How about we ask you all the same question, starting with Meghadipa. What are your future plans in Finland? Well, that's a very good question. And I see myself living in Finland.
I consider it home. I would like to stay here. I think diagnostics industry is my true calling. So I look forward to building a career, in diagnostics. And I would just like to know the culture more, because three years is - so little time and I feel like I have a lifetime of learning ahead of me. I look forward to learning the language, which will, which I hope - will be a very integral part of me integrating in society here.
So I would say I have a long list of short-term and long-term goals. But at the end of the day, I am happy where I am, - and I look forward to just taking steps towards, - becoming a happier person, being happy with what I do. And that is my motivation. [Tarek:] Oh my God that's beautiful. You're on the way back home. So, that's really really lovely to hear.
Thank you, Meghadipa. Maybe for me, I need your future mirror. Okay! Here you go! Here you go! Oh, yeah. What do I see there? But in general, I cannot say in advanced, because in - scientific fields moving somewhere else, it's very good for your career.
But for sure my first goal is to defense for sure. And do I see myself living in Finland? Yes, I do. So in general, because of course I've been living here for six years and - it's even like doubled time, you know. So of course the reason I see myself living in Finland and, - I get used to environment. I get used to things how are working. You don't need to spend so much time on traveling to your work. Because I'm from Russia. And I used to travel like two hours in one way, -
and now it's like, 10 minutes and I'm already in the lab. So you kind of literally save four hours of your life each day. And I totally agree with you in a sense, if you're planning to stay in Finland. It's very nice to learn the culture and language aside, - because I do learn Finnish - and I see how it helps me to be part of, you know, like a bit more being integrating into Finnish society. Like if an old lady asked me something in Finnish - and I already super happy to answer something. Yes! Yeah! So then like you feel that you are a part of a community, - which is a very very important thing. At least for me.
[Tarek:] This is so powerful. Thank you so much. I once heard this quote, I probably paraphrasing it terribly. It was like speak a man's ideology and you speak to his mind, - speak a man's language, and you speak to his heart.
I think that resonated very strongly with me. Thank you for sharing Karolina. You're welcome. My precious! That mirror, to be honest, because as I said, my life in Finland, - turned 180 degrees from when I came. So I maybe had a plan or a vision, but it changed completely.
And I have to say I'm very happy for that, because if - there was no opportunities, there would not be a change. So I don't want to look in your mirror. I really want to stay in Finland. Life is full of surprises! Yes, in a way because as I say I think it's a land of opportunities- So I don't want to have a spoiler. I want to have the journey and I really want to stay here and - go along with that journey. So that's one plan I have, for now.
That's a very good plan. Khalil I love that. You are just flowing. Sorry for interrupting, but what about you guys? So you're all coming to interview us. What about you, also have such experience? You also have person the spot. Oh, it looks like I'm definitely staying in Finland. Yeah, but it's, it seems like... [Dado:] I think you're looking at mine. Hold on! Let me just take a closer look.
No! No! It's me! It's me. I'm staying in Finland. I am staying in Finland, but the details, - I would love to keep them a surprise. Absolutely. Likewise, likewise, we definitely have a lot of plans. We have a company together that we established it and, - we've been very happy to have this double side because we're academics. We had our PhDs a couple of years ago, and then we're looking at innovations - and how things are happening. They're very hot. As you know in Turku - there's a lot of things going. And then at the same time -
going into that different path. I think it was- John Eriksson, he was talking about how, we make research facilities, - and then we need people to actually do the administration. So going into the entrepreneurial world is something like that. You learn so much more. And at the same time, having this academic background - you know, you have a responsibility for the society. You know you have to, -
if you do something, you have to have something that has impact. So I definitely believe this, like you said, it's a place of opportunity. It's a place where such ideas can grow, where you don't need - to be one thing, but you can actually be who you really are. As a matter of fact, like if I can say that, I think we're all - very far away from our houses. Yet we're home. I think, this is something that I've heard from all of you.
I can definitely agree. Very strongly. That's beautiful. That's beautifully concluded. And thank you all. Thank you for being here today.
And it was really a pleasure to hear your stories and - get to know you guys more. And of course our discussion is going to continue. This is not the end of the day. We will be having a networking event. So make sure you go in your panels and your platforms, - click on the lounge tab and join the discussion. Join the meetings with different universities, check their programs, - which are offered in English and keep the discussion going.
The future is made in Finland has many more series and episodes to come, - and the next one is already digitalization. Future of digitalization I believe. And it's already on November 15th. So make sure you do not miss that. We will see you in the networking event. Yes, absolutely. See you guys there. Thank you guys. [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Playing] [Acoustic guitar instrumental music] [Ending]
2021-11-20 00:57
