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Development projects

The activities of Neurocenter Finland are supported through local development projects. Local development projects will give better access to the special characteristics of an area and an opportunity to engage in concrete action to make improvements that meet local needs. The development projects support the achievement of the long-term strategic objectives set for the activities of Neurocenter Finland. This also provides an opportunity to pilot service models locally, for example. The experiences gained through the development projects and the actual outcomes will be scaled up into actions and models that will benefit the nationwide network. The development projects will be implemented in collaboration with local organisations, which will also help intensify collaboration and communication between actors in the area.

E-FINGERS VIRTUAL FACILITATOR FOR PERSONALIZED BRAIN HEALTH PROMOTION AND DEMENTIA PREVENTION

Co-creation -project funded by the Business Finland. During this stage, research organization is creating new research idea, which has chances to proceed as collaboration project (co-innovation) with suitable companies. This project, eFINGERS, aims to develop a virtual facilitator for personalized brain health promotion and dementia prevention. Neurocenter Finland has main responsibilities for the proposal preparation and the principal investigator is Associate Professor Alina Solomon (MD, PhD), and the project is coordinator Annalaura Jokiniemi (MSc). During Co-creation –stage the necessary research and company collaboration network will be built.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are major public health problems. After many failed clinical trials, there are still no effective, widely available disease-modifying drugs. Accurate identification of people at-risk or in early disease stages can increase the likelihood of developing effective disease-modifying therapies, but to do this we need to find new sustainable ways of working. The e-FINGERS virtual facilitator will enable development of novel and effective tools for personalized brain health promotion and dementia prevention, e.g. softwares and digital biomarkers for finding people at risk or in early disease stages, directing them to the right trials/treatments, and monitoring disease, risk and therapeutic effects over time. It will also be adaptable to other brain conditions beyond AD/dementia in the future. Ultimately, e-FINGERS aims to become an internationally connected national virtual facilitator for innovative neuroscience R&D, with longer-term sustainability facilitated by early involvement of industry.

Neurocenter Finland – Savonia regional center of excellence

Financial support for the development of a centre of excellence in the North Savo region is provided by the Regional Council of North Savo from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The development project is implemented from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021, and the implementing organisations are the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital and Savonia University of Applied Sciences.

The objective of the development project is to develop a centre of excellence in the North Savo region that will support the activities of Neurocenter Finland and use its services. The introduction of operating models designed to serve as part of the nationwide activities of Neurocenter Finland will be piloted in the development project

Helsinki Network Brain & Mind

Financial support for the development of a centre of excellence in the Uusimaa region is provided by the Uusimaa Regional Council from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The development project is implemented from 1 September 2019 to 31 December 2021, and the implementing organisations are the University of Helsinki, Aalto University and the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.

The development project is implemented to build a network-based competence centre in the Helsinki capital region for promoting research collaboration that combines neuroscience basic research, clinical neuroscience, research and development in neurotechnology, and commercialisation projects. The development project objective is to build platforms and tools that will enable more efficient use of research results and patient data. The development project and Neurocenter Finland are engaged in cooperation. When the establishment of Neurocenter Finland is completed, the centre of excellence will be set up to serve the Helsinki capital region.