Event recap: Health Founders Estonia Launch Event
On March 19, Health Founders Estonia hosted its official launch event, introducing a new operational model for the national HealthTech ecosystem, alongside upcoming development programs and community activities. The event focused on the future of Estonia’s HealthTech sector and the key challenges that must be addressed for sustainable growth.
A Foundation Built on Collaboration
Erki Mölder, Chair of the HFE Advisory Board, opened the event by outlining four core principles that guide Health Founders Estonia’s approach. He emphasized that technology development must always go hand-in-hand with business strategy and real market potential. Equally important is co-creation, as tangible progress in health innovation requires every player in the ecosystem to work together. Startups, he noted, need stage-specific, structured, and combined support to grow successfully. Finally, he highlighted that open information sharing and peer-to-peer learning are critical for accelerating innovation across the sector.
The Future of Estonia’s HealthTech Sector – Four Key Challenges
Sandra Särav-Tammus, Deputy Secretary General for Economy and Innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, emphasized that Estonia has the potential to achieve the highest number of HealthTech unicorns per capita by 2035. To reach this ambitious goal, she outlined four pressing challenges. The first is a looming workforce shortage, as half of Estonia’s healthcare professionals are expected to retire within the next decade, while the inflow of new talent remains too slow. The second challenge is community cohesion, since the HealthTech sector needs stronger collaboration and a shared vision to grow sustainably. Third, she highlighted the importance of access to capital, stressing that Estonia must attract more investment and focus on developing exportable technologies and services. Finally, she pointed to regulatory barriers, urging the state to act as a partner that helps companies overcome obstacles rather than getting stuck behind them.
Designing the Future, Not Reacting to the Past
Building on this perspective, Tõnu Esko, Vice Rector for Development at the University of Tartu, spoke about Estonia’s unique global advantage: its highly integrated data, systems, and services. He noted that while other countries are still catching up with yesterday’s challenges, Estonia is already designing the future. For the ecosystem to truly thrive, he emphasized, all players must understand its full complexity and co-design solutions with international growth potential.
Panel Discussion: The Future of Estonian HealthTech
In the panel “The Future of Estonian HealthTech,” experts from across the ecosystem shared their perspectives on the sector’s bottlenecks and opportunities. The discussion brought together Erki Mölder (Health Founders Estonia), Kristiina Sepp (Estonian Business and Innovation Agency), Dr. Katrin Kaarna (University of Tartu, Institute of Clinical Medicine), and Ergo Sooru (Co-founder and CEO of DrHouse).
The panelists emphasized the need for more substantial alignment between research and business, stressing that scientific discoveries must be linked to real-world applications to create meaningful impact. They also pointed out that bureaucracy often hinders innovation and called for regulatory frameworks that support, rather than hinder, technological progress. Startups, they agreed, require structured support, including reliable access to funding and clear pathways toward clinical validation.
Another key point was the need to shift the academic mindset: entrepreneurship should be seen as a valuable path for scientists, not as a failure to remain in academia. Finally, the panel called for greater expertise within the public sector and closer cooperation between universities and private companies to ensure that promising ideas can reach patients faster.
Health Founders Estonia Calls for Bold Innovators
Health Founders Estonia encourages researchers, startups, and entrepreneurs to bring forward bold and ambitious ideas with the aim of co-creating the future of HealthTech in Estonia. The team is actively seeking visionary concepts and early-stage companies that are ready to grow, driven by their vision of making Estonia the most valued early-stage HealthTech growth environment in Europe.
The HFE program is funded by the EU through Enterprise Estonia, in collaboration with Startup Estonia, to build a strong, globally competitive health tech ecosystem in Estonia.