Health Tech Hub Copenhagen: It’s time for the next phase of the ecosystem

This post is also available in: Danish

Although the Danish healthcare industry is a resounding success across the board, there is still room for improvement if we are to keep up with other countries.

The time is right to make the ecosystem bigger and broader, according to the organization Health Tech Hub Copenhagen, which since 2019 has worked to gather and support Danish health tech startups.

“Even though health tech is a young industry, it is developing rapidly. The pandemic helped make the area politically more important and today more and more people want to start companies or invest in them. Health technology has become a ‘need to have’ and the ecosystem must reflect this,” says Martin Broch Pedersen, Business Development Director at Health Tech Hub Copenhagen.

Since its founding, the startup organization has grown to 36 member companies that have brought digital health solutions to over 4.8 million people and have over 1,400 employees in total.

And if this success is to continue, we as a society need to create even more synergies across the healthcare industry, Martin Broch Pedersen explains.

“The strength of an ecosystem lies in the ability to benefit from each other. For example, if you’re looking for a CFO for your startup in Silicon Valley, several relevant candidates quickly raise their hands. We want to strengthen this type of synergy and cohesion in Denmark.”

Health Tech Hub Copenhagen

• HTHC has 36 member companies and has helped a total of 52 startups since its foundation.
• A total of 3956.4 mDKK has been invested in Danish health tech startups since 2019 (capital investments).
• 5,779 new jobs have been created in Danish health tech startups since 2019.
• HTHC members have brought digital health solutions to over 4.8 million people and have over 1,400 employees in total.

The importance of community

Since its foundation, Danish health tech has been on an upward curve. The results have been so positive that last year Health Tech Hub Copenhagen raised a new grant from the Danish Industry Foundation.

The fresh grant of approximately DKK 33 million is one of the things that incites the organization to be a catalyst for the ecosystem’s next steps.

“Specifically, we want to invite more people to become part of the health tech ecosystem. We all need each other. That’s why we want to build bridges to investors, law firms, accounting firms, headhunters, talented board members and so on. The more people who specialize in this area, the stronger we will be overall,” says Martin Broch Pedersen.

There are over 270 health tech companies in Denmark – a number that is growing every year. The ambition is for the organization to be home to more than half of them in the long term. In addition to attracting new types of companies to the health tech ecosystem, says Martin Broch Pedersen.

“Software companies developing health tech need heterogeneous teams. Software developers, regulatory experts, nurses, doctors, investors and others need to work together. In Denmark, it can therefore be frustrating that we often have a good idea, but don’t always have the resources available to get the engine behind a concept off the ground. That’s the bottleneck we want to address.”

While Denmark may not boast the largest and most expansive health tech ecosystem, the high level of trust in society, the digital maturity and the unique amount of data on citizens’ health make the country a potential goldmine for health tech startups.

“We are convinced that we will see more successful health tech companies if we get more investors and board members with industry insight and more specialized advice. Health tech needs to grow both in quality and quantity and the potential is huge if we can succeed” says Martin Broch Pedersen.