NIC Conference in Helsinki 2019

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Welcome Dinner, Sunday, 9 June 2019
6:00pm – 9:00pm Venue: Kansallissali, Aleksanterinkatu 44 A, 2nd floor
Date and Time Description
4:00pm – 6:00pm Pre-registrationVenue: Hotel Kämp reception, Pohjoisesplanadi 29, Helsinki, Finland, FIN-00100
5:45pm Meet at hotel lobby to walk over to the dinner venue
6:00pm – 6:30pm Cocktail reception
6:30pm – 8:30pm Welcome dinnerWelcome remarks by Ambassador Frank Lavin, Chairman, NUS Medicine International Council

Welcome remarks by Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

 

Conference (Day 1), Monday, 10 June 2019
9:00pm – 5:00pm Venue: Mirror Room, 2nd floor, Hotel Kämp, Pohjoisesplanadi 29 Helsinki, Finland, FIN-00100
7:00am – 2:00pm Health-check station by Nightingale Health and AavaVenue: Paavo Nurmi room 1
6:00pm – 8:00pm Dinner at OodiVenue: Maijansali Hall, Helsinki Central Library Oodi, Töölönlahdenkatu 4, 00100 Helsinki

 

Date and Time Description
9:00am – 9:30am RegistrationHealth-check station: Make your next move towards well-being at NIC Helsinki

During the conference, delegates will have a chance for a comprehensive health check-up provided by the Finnish biotech company Nightingale Health, partnered with Finnish healthcare provider Aava. This newly launched health service helps people to understand their current risks for chronic diseases (including heart disease and type 2 diabetes), provide them with a holistic picture of their well-being, and pinpoint lifestyle areas that need development.

9:30am – 10:30am Members’ meetingNIC update by Ambassador Frank Lavin, Chairman, NUS Medicine International Council

Opening address by Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

10:30am – 11:15am Dialogue with Her Excellency Tarja Halonen, Former President of Finland, on Sustainable development and human security
11:15am-11:30am Morning coffee break
11:30am – 12:15pm Keynote on digitalisation, smart cities and e-government by Mr. Kalle Palling, Member of Parliament, Estonia
12:15pm – 12:30pm Take charge of your future healthTeemu Suna, CEO, Founder and Chairman of Nightingale

Do you understand your current risks for chronic diseases? How prone are you to getting heart disease? Or type 2 diabetes? Get personal insights into the effects of lifestyle factors and future disease risks. Get a holistic picture of your wellbeing, and pinpoint lifestyle areas that need development. Learn how to empower yourself to follow up on your own well-being and take proactive steps to stay healthy.

12:30pm – 2:00pm Buffet Lunch @ Break Room
2:00pm – 2:40pm Plenary talk on Precision medicine by Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Regius Professor of Medicine, Vice Principal and Head of College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Scotland, United KingdomPrecision medicine can spur a revolution in healthcare, bringing the prospects of earlier diagnosis, more effective treatment, cost savings and better patient outcomes. The University of Glasgow is leading the way in this new medical revolution, with collaboration at the heart of its success.
2:40pm – 3:15pm Dialogue session on Cardiovascular health with Professor Sandosh Padmanabhan, Professor of Cardiovascular Genomics and Therapeutics (Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences), University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom and Professor Jaakko Tuomilehto, Professor Emeritus of Public Health of the University of Helsinki, FinlandCardiovascular disease is recognised as the biggest contributor to global morbidity and mortality. High blood pressure (hypertension) is the leading single risk factor for mortality and global burden of disease with over 1 billion people affected worldwide. The speed of technology- driven genomic discoveries and the sluggish traditional pathways of drug development and translation need harmonisation. What will be the hypertension moonshot? How can investigators and stakeholders across biomedical, public health, regulatory, digital technology, engineering and pharmaceutical domains work together with patients to make a timely and early impact on global public health?
3:15pm – 3:30pm Afternoon coffee break
3: 30pm – 4:10pm A better startProfessor Yap Seng Chong, Dean, Lien Ying Chow Professor in Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

 

How can the physical and emotional health and well-being of the mother impact the unborn child before and after birth? How to provide better and earlier interventions, to give children the best start to life? Learn how the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) programme, Singapore’s largest and most comprehensive birth cohort study is becoming a leading player in shaping the public health and social policies of Singapore.

4:10pm – 5:00pm Panel discussion on Disruptive technologiesModerator: Professor Brian Kennedy, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Feeding a growing world population in the age of climate change

Dr. Lauri Reuter, Senior Specialist, Disruptive Technologies, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Human society is fundamentally built on agriculture. Yet agriculture is increasingly threatened by changing climate, depleting soil and diminishing diversity of life. Food production needs to double in coming decades to satisfy the growing demand. Many of the disruptions of the next transition are emerging from biotechnology and closed environment agriculture. The food system has to change dramatically to feed a growing population on a green planet – if we use technology wisely.

The science to resist ageing

Tom Weldon, Chairman & CEO, Ponce de Leon Health

Ponce de Leon Health has developed a commercially available product, Rejuvant, which in the mouse model extends life span, health span, and compresses morbidity. Early data in humans suggests that taking the product can dramatically reduce biologic age, as measured by DNA methylation, and dramatically improve cardiac blood biomarkers.

Live biotherapeutics: next-generation medicines

Dr. Matthew Chang, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

The presentation will centre on an array of technologies currently under development that aim to create live biotherapeutics for the prevention and treatment of human diseases. In particular, emphasis will be placed on the engineering of commensal and probiotic microbes to exert targeted therapeutic efficacy against chronic diseases including metabolic disorder and cancer. The work presented demonstrates

the potential of engineered microbes to function as live biotherapeutics, next-generation medicines that transform and revolutionise the way diseases are managed.

5:30pm Meet at Lobby for transport to Oodi
6:00pm – 6:30pm Cocktail reception
6:30pm – 8:30pm Dinner at OodiGuest-of-honour: Ms. Nasima Razmyar, Deputy Mayor of Helsinki
8:30pm Transport to return to hotel from Oodi

 

Conference (Day 2), Tuesday, 11 June 2019
9:00pm – 5:00pm Venue: Mirror Room, 2nd floor, Hotel Kämp, Pohjoisesplanadi 29 Helsinki, Finland, FIN-00100
7:00am – 1:30pm Health-check station by Nightingale Health and AavaVenue: Paavo Nurmi room 1

 

Date and Time Description
9:00am – 9:40am Keynote by His Excellency Esko Aho, Former Prime Minister of Finland on The European innovation advantageWhat are the strengths and weaknesses of European innovation potential? What should the European Union do in order to create new comparative advantages in developing and applying new technologies? This talk will focus on the role of business and government collaboration in R&D and innovation and explore the key components of a successful technology strategy for a small nation.
9:40am – 10:30am Panel discussion on The meaning of global citizenship in the context of digital innovation and cyber-securityGlobal citizenship will be advanced and shaped significantly by the speedy digital innovation. Geographic distances will become less of an issue, which is fantastic, but political and cultural distances will not automatically diminish. There are many challenges – not least in the area of cyber-security and privacy – that need to be addressed. Can digitalisation make us better citizens of the world? Does it really connect or cause more social isolation? As parliaments around the world debate issues of fake news and the trust deficit, what are the implications on global citizenship?

Moderator: Matti Hämäläinen, Senior Advisor at Nightingale Health, Finland

Panellists:

·   Professor Hannu Seristö, Vice President, External Relations, Aalto University, Finland

·   Karol Mattila, Head, Government Relations, Nokia, Finland

·   Nina Hyvärinen, Head of Corporate Relations, F Secure, Finland

10:30am – 10:55am Morning coffee break
10:55am – 11:45am Panel discussion on e-governmentModerator: Nadav Lehavy, Founder and Managing Director of Cobcalette, Singapore

E-stonia: Is this the digital future?

Linnar Viik, Co-Founder, Programme Director of Smart Government, e-Governance Academy, Estonia

Since 2004 Estonia has been considered as one of the most digitally advance nations in the world. But did you know that this transformation came at a lower-than-average ICT investment rate per capita over a relatively shorter period compared to other countries. How did this small country make such a huge e-footprint? What are the success factors? How do they measure the impact of digital transformation on the competitiveness and sustainability of the country? This and more in this brief but deep dive into the e-Estonia phenomenon.

 

The future of e-government

Marko Turpeinen, Director, EIT Digital, Finland

EIT Digital aims at global impact through European innovation fuelled by entrepreneurial talent and digital technology. This is the perspective on the future of e-government through the lens of a pan-European ecosystem of over 180 top European corporations, SMEs, startups, universities and research institutes, where students, researchers, engineers, business developers and entrepreneurs collaborate in an open innovation setting.

11:45am – 12:30pm Panel session on gender gap in businessGender equality is not just the right thing to do – it is “smart economics”. Yet across the world, women are still a long way off from achieving gender parity with men, according to the World Economic Forum 2018 Global Gender Gap Report. The gap remains, whether in political empowerment, economic participation and opportunity, or educational attainment. And it seems to be widening in emerging fields like artificial intelligence . What can be done?

 

Moderator: Teemu Suna, CEO, Founder and Chairman of Nightingale

Panellists:

·   Tiina Zilliacus, Founder, CEO at Cherryontop Ventures, Finland

·   Maria Kuosa, CEO, Aeromon, Finland

·   Maha Kaddoura, Advisory Board Member, Lebanese American University, Lebanon

12:30pm – 12:35pm Closing remarks by Ambassador Frank Lavin, Chairman, NUS Medicine International Council
12:35pm – 1:30pm Buffet lunch

 

Site visits, Tuesday, 11 June 2019
1:30pm – 5:00pm Visit to Nightingale Health and EIT Digital

 

Date and Time Description
1:30pm Meet at hotel lobby to go for site visit (transport provided)
2:00pm – 3:00pm Visit to Nightingale HealthNightingale Health is a Finnish biotech company and the innovator of an award-winning blood analysis technology. By measuring the comprehensive health state from a person using a single blood sample, Nightingale equips healthcare professional, researchers and consumers with insights into the effects of lifestyle factors and future disease risk, accelerating breakthroughs in chronic disease prevention.
3:30pm – 5:00pm Visit to a start-up eco-system in Finland·   Welcome introduction at Aalto University

·   Walking tour of Aalto University Campus

·   Welcome to EIT Digital and Espoo Innovation Garden

·   Introduction to promising startups

5:00pm End of NIC Helsinki 2019 programmeReturn transport to Hotel Kämp

For a copy of the full programme, please click here

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