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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

The duration of the Co-creation project, funded by Business Finland, is from 1 June 2022 to 31 March 2023. Neurocenter Finland is responsible for coordinating the preparatory phase of the project, with the University of Eastern Finland as the main implementor. The Co-Creation phase will create the research and business cooperation network needed for research and innovation development. This project, e-Fingers, aims to be a virtual facilitator to promote individual brain health and prevent dementia.

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.

SUSTAINABLE BRAIN HEALTH

Sustainable Brain Health – project is supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, from the European Social Fund’s (ESF) programme for Sustainable growth and jobs 2014-2020 – Structural Funds Programme of Finland. The project is ongoing between March 1^st, 2020 – August 31^st, 2023. Sustainable Brain Health project partners are Tampere university community, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Pirkanmaa Hospital District and Tampere University Hospital Behavioural Neurology research group. The project also collaborates with Neurocenter Finland, and occupational health operators Pirte and Mehiläinen. Ruissalo Rehabilitation Centre is partnering with the project.

Sustainable Brain Health – project aims to improve employee well-being by developing a brain health barometer, as well as new tools and ways to operate for work communities. The goal of this is to improve the employees’ brain health and well-being at work as well as the productivity of work. The project focuses on cognitive- , information- and affective ergonomics, self-direction and ethical workload. In addition, the project aims to identify factors involved in ethical workload and develop tools to help with these tasks. The project operates at a national level, and the target audience are teachers, health care professionals and ITC-professionals.

Sustainable Brain Health-website

Neuro-Innovation doctoral programme

Neuro-Innovation is an EU Horizon2020 MSCA funded (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action for Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND)) four-year doctoral programme that focuses on research and innovation for brain health throughout life. The implementation of the programme is from 1st May 2021 to 30th April 2026.

Fourteen competent and motivated Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will be selected in two calls for multi/interdisciplinary doctoral training of which combines neurosciences with management, social, legal, and computer sciences and applied physics.

Personalized medicine approach for novel microglia-associated genetic variants in Alzheimer’s disease (PMG-AD)

Personalized medicine approach for novel microglia-associated genetic variants in Alzheimer’s disease (PMG-AD) is EU JNPD funded project. The implemented period is 2020-2022. The co-implementors are University of Eastern Finland (coordinator) and Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, University of Helsinki, INSERM UMR 1167, Institut Pasteur de Lille and Technical University of Munich.

The goal is to find new cellular mechanisms and biomarkers for early Alzheimer’s disease.

NORTH SAVO REHABILITATION SERVICES KNOWLEDGE AND BUSINESS NETWORK (KUNTOS)

Financial support for the KUNTOS-project is provided by Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment from the European Social Fund (ESF). The implemention of the project is from 1 September 2020 to 31 May 2023 and it is managed by Live Foundation. The co-implementors are Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Savo Vocational College (Savo Consortium for Education) and Kuopio Sports Medicine Research Institute (KulTu) and co-partners in expert role Kuopio University Hospital (KUH), Neurocenter Finland, Talentree, Aducate and Tukipilari.

The rehabilitation training/education in the North Savo region must be profiled to suit the arisen need. The area is one of the experts among Finnish rehabilitation service providers. In order to develop rehabilitation expertise and business, it is important to ensure the visibility and attractiveness of the area by gathering a group of the top rehabilitation substance experts, education/training methods and tools experts, and rehabilitation networking experts in the area in order to develop an expertise and business network in North Savo. The area already carries out visible social and healthcare education, but there still is a need for a network between the education organisations and the rehabilitation service providers. The project solves the issue by developing a strong local rehabilitation expertise network in North Savo. The expertise network defines the rehabilitation service operating model to advance expertise and business in the area.

KUNTOS-project website

Realiable Knowledge for Health Care: Process and Practice of Shared Decision Making (PROSHADE)

Realiable Knowledge for Health Care: Process and Practice of Shared Decision Making (PROSHADE) project is funded by The Strategic Research Council (SRC) which is affiliated with the Academy of Finland. The implementation of the project is from 1^st October 2020 to 30^th September 2026. The project is part of SRC’s LITERACY research programme, which explores how information can be used critically and constructively to support individuals and societal decision-making and action.

The Proshade Research Consortium develops the use of economic and impact information as well as patient-generated information in decision-making. Shared decision-making practices in healthcare organizations and patient care decisions is studied and evaluated.

The project is implemented by the University of Eastern Finland, Tampere University, University of Oulu and Duodecim. Neurocenter Finland is one of the partners in the project.

Neurocenter Finland – Savonia regional center of excellence (Finished)

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 (Finished)

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.