Health Access project supports 14 health technology companies from Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and Finland to enter the South Korean market
A consortium of Estonian, Latvian, Swedish and Finnish technology organisations initiated the CB Health Access project in 2016 to support entrepreneurship in health technologies. CB Health Access facilitates the entry of Estonian, Latvian, Swedish and Finnish health tech companies to distant markets – South Korea, USA, India and Uganda. In the spring of 2017, 14 companies visited the first target market South Korea.
The program that we offer to the companies, includes the introduction to the target market, individual coaching, gathering market information, identifying and contacting potential partners, and business missions. The expected result for the participating company is to achieve first sales on the target market,“ said Maarika Merirand from CB Health Access, when describing the project.
The total duration of CB Health Access is 3 years, during which between 17-22 companies from the region is selected for each target market. The selected companies must be committed to enter the target market with their product and their team. South Korea was chosen as the first target market, and a comprehensive research of the market was conducted in cooperation between target market experts and companies. In the first half of 2017 business missions to South Korea took place.
During the business mission the companies were connected with potential distributors, investors, manufacturers as well as regulatory bodies. In addition the companies visited international fairs BioKorea and KIMES (Korea International Medical & Hospital Equipment Show).
„Companies participating in the South Korean programm were very satisfied with the business mission. Naturally their priority is to make new connections, but getting an overview of and a perception of the South Korean business culture was equally important. The latter was introduced to them by local.“ Merirand explained when pointing out the benefits for the companies. She added that as the result of the business mission several companies have entered negotiations with the contacts they made in South Korea, mainly regarding distributing their products on the target market, but als regarding investments and manufacturing.
The CB Health Access project is led by Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol in Estonia. The partners include Tartu Biotechnology Park (Estonia), Turku Science Park (Finland) Enixus Baltics (Latvia) Swedish Medtech (Sweden) and Swecare Foundation (Sweden). The project is financed by Central Baltic Interreg Program.
The business missions to the other target markets – India, Uganda and USA – will take place in the second half of 2017.
There are still a limited amount of spots available for companies wishing to enter the Indian or Ugandan market. The program will comer 85% of coaching and business mission costs. For more information contact:
