2024.06.04. The Fair Economy — The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 4th that it held director-general-level talks with Estonia's Ministry of Social Affairs in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, at 3 p.m. local time on the 3rd, to discuss ways to make use of medical data, including Estonia's genomic information.
Estonia has an innovative startup ecosystem and a high level of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, having become the first country in the world to introduce electronic voting in 2007.
In particular, based on such infrastructure, most routine medical data is collected and securely stored using blockchain. Through its biobank project, Estonia has also collected genomic information from more than 200,000 people, and this standardized medical data has become the foundation for Estonia's leadership in health care innovation in Europe.
In contrast, South Korea accumulates a significant amount of public medical data every year, as all citizens are enrolled in national health insurance and examination records are continuously generated. However, limits on corporate use remain because institutional arrangements and social consensus regarding the use of medical data have not been settled.
Kim Hong-ju, head of the Special Zone Planning Team at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and Janika Merilo, director-general of the e-Health Strategy Division at Estonia's Ministry of Social Affairs, discussed procedures and methods to support companies in the Gangwon AI Health Care Global Innovation Special Zone in using the genomic information held by Estonia. They also agreed on government-level interest and support for a research and development (R&D) project jointly pursued by Gangwon special zone companies and the University of Tartu.
In addition, the ministry visited Enterprise Estonia on the same morning and discussed measures to provide linked support, including consulting and funding, for companies in the Gangwon Global Innovation Special Zone that plan to pursue international joint R&D with Estonian universities and other institutions.
It also discussed ways to support Korean AI health care startups seeking collaboration with Health Founders, a specialized incubator for biotechnology, as well as Estonian universities and companies. Health Founders is the first biotechnology-focused incubator in the Baltic Sea region, discovering and supporting startups in the biotechnology field linked to Estonia's health information system.
On the 4th, Heo Jang-hyeon, head of Gangwon Technopark, the agency dedicated to the Gangwon AI Healthcare Global Innovation Zone, and Andrus Kurvits, chairman of Tartu Science Park, an Estonian regional innovation agency, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support demonstration projects and workforce training for AI healthcare companies.
On the 5th, the "Korea-Estonia AI Healthcare Roundtable" will be held to promote joint technology development and share expertise between Korea and Estonia in AI healthcare. The roundtable will bring together healthcare companies from both countries, the director of the Clinical Research Center at the University of Tartu, Professor Moon Ji-suk of CHA University, and other experts.
Kim Hong-ju, head of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Regional Special Zone Innovation Planning Group, said, "If companies in the Gangwon Global Innovation Zone make use of the vast amount of healthcare data Estonia has built up, it will greatly help in developing AI healthcare technology. We will look for ways to provide support so this can lead not only to technology development but also to entry into global markets, including Europe."
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