- News article
Why Norway Health Tech is present at Arendalsuka 2026
For Norway Health Tech, Arendalsuka is about highlighting how health technology can contribute to more sustainable services, and about addressing the barriers that prevent solutions from actually being implemented.
Written by
Therese Oppegaard
Arendalsuka is one of Norway’s most important arenas for connecting politics, public administration, healthcare services and industry, and for discussing how health technology and innovation can contribute to a more sustainable healthcare system. It brings together decision-makers and stakeholders from across the ecosystem to influence direction. For the cluster, it is about amplifying the voice of its members and ensuring that political ambitions are followed up with clear priorities, effective instruments and the capacity to deliver.
– To succeed in developing a more sustainable healthcare system while also building a competitive health industry, we need to discuss how policy, markets and service development actually work together in practice, says Sveinung Tornås, CEO of Norway Health Tech.
– Well-functioning public–private collaboration is essential to success.
Norway 2030 – from ambition to action in healthcare
On Monday, 11 August, together with other health and life sciences clusters, we will bring politicians and industry together for a debate under the headline “Norway 2030: ambition alone is not enough.”
Norway has strong academic environments, world-leading health data and a growing health industry. Yet progress remains slow when it comes to adopting data and technology in healthcare, and the gap between strategic ambitions and actual implementation is still too wide. As pressure increases on capacity, finances and competence, goals and reports are no longer sufficient. Technology must be implemented, data must be used, and the industry must be more closely connected to healthcare services.
Who will make the political decisions that turn health and life sciences into a real national strength – and who will ensure that resources follow ambition?
On stage, politicians, industry representatives and entrepreneurs will join a dialogue on priorities, implementation and political choices. Read more about the event here.
More events during Arendalsuka:
- The healthcare services of the future: when technology empowers patients and shifts power (10 August). A discussion on how technology is changing the balance of power in healthcare, and what it takes to move from pilot projects to lasting, systemic change through stronger public–public and public–private collaboration. LINK
- How can we strengthen and operationalise the innovation mandate? (12 August). A discussion on how innovation ambitions in academia and healthcare can be translated into practice – and how access to testing and validation infrastructure is key to building a Norwegian health industry. LINK
We will also participate in a range of debates and networking arenas organised by our members and partners throughout the week.
Arild Kristensen, COO of Norway Health Tech, in a panel discussion during Arendalsuka 2025.
Close to our members
Norway Health Tech is present at Arendalsuka to represent the cluster’s ecosystem and to ensure that experiences from the development, testing and implementation of health technology are part of the broader discussion on the future of healthcare services.
We encourage members who have their own events or topics they would like to highlight to get in touch.
– We actively use Arendalsuka to shed light on barriers, experiences and solutions. If any of our members would like us to connect with their events and initiatives, they are very welcome to reach out, Tornås concludes.
