Finland
Päivi Laajala
203,567 (2018)
Juhani Heikka, Aarne Kultalahti
Improve service delivery
Improve internal government operations
Simplify administrative procedures for firms and residents
Dedicated funding
Dedicated innovation team
Culture of innovation in city
Support from outside city administration
Engagement with partners
Leadership from Mayor
OuluHealth is one of the leading digital health innovation ecosystems in Europe. The principal objective of OuluHealth is to facilitate open collaboration, spur business growth, and accelerate innovation by bringing together key partners to cater to the needs of the healthcare sector. The ecosystem recently established a knowledge building and support system, DigiHealth Hub, which allows companies to share their best practices and connects them to emerging technologies for digital healthcare solutions. Through OuluHealth Labs, OuluHealth also provides an excellent environment for testing innovations and stimulating the integration of digital technologies in hospital environments.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Oulu has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to more than half of cities surveyed, Oulu approaches innovation capacity both from a holistic/macro level, as well as in specific policy areas.
Digital Health: Oulu Selfcare Service, co-created with OuluHealth partners, is a personal online welfare service for all residents of Oulu. The service is one of the most utilized and well-received online services. By 2018, over 50 % of the Oulu residents (104,000) registered as users, most of them over 65 years and two thirds are women. Estimated savings between 2012-2017 are almost €3 million. The city is in the process of scaling up Oulu Selfcare Service.
Environment: The City of Oulu Environmental Program was approved by the Oulu City Board in 2019. Environmental Program defines objectives, targets, measures and indicators to maintain and improve a good state of the environment and ensuring the city's vitality. The carbon-neutral Oulu 2040 guideline is the most central document steering the environment program. Digitization and digital tools are one of the key enablers for sustainable urban development, contributing to the reduction in energy consumption in real estate and rented apartments.
Oulu’s innovation work is sprinkled throughout the municipal administration. Besides a limited number of staff dedicated to innovation work, there are experts in various departments contributing to the city’s innovation efforts.
Taking risks or testing new ideas
Data-driven analytics/public data management
Engaging residents in new ways
Developing new solutions based on digital technologies
Organizational change within the municipality
Human-centered design
Rethinking your city’s approach to financing partnerships
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Oulu has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
*"Training staff and building capacity" is not an option in the 2018 survey, while "Launching or sustaining a project" is not an option in the 2020 survey.
Oulu has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with other public agencies, private firms and not-for-profit organizations. As part of innovation processes, the city also organizes participatory planning session with citizens and residents.
To improve data use, Oulu has also developed data partnerships with academia and think tanks to collect and analyze data, as well as with other cities.