OULUHEALTH, FIN­LAND

Oys­ter

OYS­TER will serve as a cut­ting-edge dig­i­tal health Research, Devel­op­ment, and Inno­va­tion (RDI) cen­ter and strate­gi­cal­ly it is designed to syn­er­gize with the new Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty Hos­pi­tal OYS2030. In the future OYS­TER will pro­vide a unique plat­form for mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tion and pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ships to nur­ture evi­dence based (val­ue-based) health­care edu­ca­tion, research, inno­va­tions, and solu­tions for the ben­e­fit of patient well­be­ing and soci­ety at large, all under one roof. OYS­TER will be advanced through col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts involv­ing stake­hold­ers with­in the OuluHealth ecosys­tem.

Oys­ter Incu­ba­tor

OYS­TER will con­sist of mul­ti­ple ele­ments. The first ele­ment to be ini­ti­at­ed is the OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor, which has opened its doors in fall 2024. The OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor is pri­mar­i­ly tar­get­ed at start­ing com­pa­nies as well as researchers, stu­dents, pro­fes­sion­als, and inno­va­tors inter­est­ed in devel­op­ing inno­va­tions for the social and health­care. The activ­i­ties are par­tic­u­lar­ly aimed at experts in dig­i­tal health, health tech­nol­o­gy, the health and well-being indus­try, and diag­nos­tics.

The oper­a­tion of the OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor com­pris­es two stages.

1. In the first phase, a busi­ness idea is devel­oped and val­i­dat­ed. The pro­gram will span 100 days, approx­i­mate­ly 14 weeks. The idea val­i­da­tion phase has start­ed on Sep­tem­ber 2024.
2. The sec­ond phase is specif­i­cal­ly ded­i­cat­ed to devel­op­ing busi­ness oper­a­tions. The busi­ness devel­op­ment phase will start on ear­ly 2025.
   

OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor activ­i­ties in a nut­shell

• The OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor will be deliv­ered as a hybrid pro­gram; edu­ca­tion ses­sions will take place approx­i­mate­ly once a week or every two weeks at the OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor premis­es in Kon­tinkan­gas. Addi­tion­al­ly, there will be online meet­ings and offline mate­ri­als pro­vid­ed.
• The train­ing is free of charge, and appli­ca­tions are open to any­one, includ­ing innovators/teams out­side Oulu.
• Train­ing will cov­er prod­uct and busi­ness devel­op­ment in health & life sci­ences, busi­ness mod­els, reg­u­la­tions, fund­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, and pitch­ing.
• The ser­vices of the OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor are tai­lored accord­ing to need, aim­ing to sup­port faster mar­ket entry for com­pa­nies, assist in find­ing fund­ing chan­nels, and facil­i­tate the cre­ation of ver­sa­tile net­works to sup­port enter­prise.
• You will also have oppor­tu­ni­ties to build your net­work – we will assist you!

Apply­ing to the Oys­ter Incu­ba­tor

Are you shap­ing the future of health and life sci­ences?

OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor is now accept­ing appli­ca­tions for its upcom­ing cohort! Whether you’re a team with a val­i­dat­ed busi­ness idea or a young start­up in the ear­ly stages of your jour­ney, this pro­gram offers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to fast-track your suc­cess.

OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor is part of a larg­er enti­ty, a dig­i­tal health RDI (Research, Devel­op­ment, and Inno­va­tion) Cen­ter, soon to be estab­lished by OuluHealth stake­hold­ers around our brand-new uni­ver­si­ty hos­pi­tal. OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor opened its doors in Sep­tem­ber 2024 with pre-incu­ba­tor pro­gram.

Why Join OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor?

Our pro­gram equips ear­ly-stage health and life sci­ence star­tups with the tools, resources, and con­nec­tions they need to thrive:

• Busi­ness Devel­op­ment: Insights on busi­ness mod­els, access­ing mar­kets, cre­at­ing impact, and scal­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly.
• Mar­ket Fit: Tai­lor your idea to meet real-world needs.
• Fund­ing Sup­port: Guid­ance on secur­ing fund­ing, investor match­mak­ing, and bud­get­ing.
• Reg­u­la­to­ry Exper­tise: Learn about device clas­si­fi­ca­tion, stan­dards, com­pli­ance, and approval path­ways.
• Prod­uct Devel­op­ment: Pro­to­type, cre­ate an MVP, and test with authen­tic end users.
• Tai­lored Train­ing: Deep dives into strat­e­gy, IP/patent pro­tec­tion, pitch­ing, mar­ket­ing, reim­burse­ment strate­gies, man­u­fac­tur­ing, and go-to-mar­ket plan­ning.
• Men­tor­ship: Per­son­al­ized sup­port from expe­ri­enced men­tors.
• Net­work­ing: Access the OuluHealth ecosys­tem and its inter­na­tion­al part­ners.

Pro­gram Details

• Loca­tion: OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor, Oulu
• Com­mit­ment: Fre­quent atten­dance at OYS­TER premis­es (~every sec­ond week) with indi­vid­ual sup­port avail­able.
• Dura­tion: Runs until May 2026, with con­tin­ued eli­gi­bil­i­ty based on mile­stone achieve­ment.
• Lan­guage: Train­ing is par­tial­ly in Eng­lish; pro­fi­cien­cy is essen­tial.
• Deliv­ery: Exe­cut­ed by OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor with con­tri­bu­tions from exter­nal experts.

Who Should Apply?

• Teams with val­i­dat­ed busi­ness ideas (via OYS­TER Pre-Incu­ba­tor or oth­er sources).
• Ear­ly-stage star­tups in the health and life sci­ences sec­tor.

Key Dates

• Appli­ca­tion Dead­line: Decem­ber 16, 2024
• Inter­views: Qual­i­fied teams/companies will be invit­ed for inter­views short­ly after the dead­line.
• Pro­gram Start Date: Late Jan­u­ary 2025

How to Apply

Sub­mit your appli­ca­tion (includ­ing a pitch deck) by Decem­ber 16, 2024, at OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor Appli­ca­tion Form

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:
Min­na Komu
Email: minna.komu@businessoulu.com
Phone: +358 50 591 7721

OYS­TER Incu­ba­tor: Mak­ing the Future — Empow­er­ing health & life sci­ence star­tups

---

More infor­ma­tion

Min­na Komu
Net­work Direc­tor, Coor­di­na­tion of Health and Life Sci­ence ecosys­tem OuluHealth
minna.komu@businessoulu.com