Increased funding of the municipality health technology scheme, strengthening of health trust´s finances and a new accelerator for entrepreneurs.

On Monday, the Government presented the national budget for 2025. What will it mean for the health technology ecosystem? We have collected some of the most important findings from Monday’s budget presentation:

• A vaccination program for grown-ups, a 400 million more for mental health and support for 1,500 full-day care beds for the elderly.

• The government proposes to allocate NOK 175.8 million for further development of the health technology scheme (Helseteknologiordningen). The health technology scheme will stimulate the introduction of health technology and collaborative solutions in the municipalities. The scheme includes, among other things, application-based grant schemes and a guidance service. The guidance service is to be further developed into an approval scheme within the health technology area. It is proposed to extend the subsidy to digital interaction solutions aimed at developing and adapting the patient record systems. Overall, the grant is an increase of NOK 26 million compared to 2024.

• The government is proposing NOK 286 million to stimulate stronger collaboration between municipalities and hospitals on service development and good patient outcomes, as well as support measures that promote recruitment and good use of personnel in the healthcare regions. The grant funds must be used according to agreement between the healthcare organization and the relevant municipality(s)

• The government proposes to allocate NOK 225.2 million to the development of digital interaction solutions in the health and care service. This will make health information available both to residents and between health personnel who treat the patients. The grant will, among other things, go towards making the patient’s test results digitally available, providing a digital overview of the patient’s medicines (Pasientens legemiddelliste), and sharing the patient’s medical records across the health service.

• The government proposes NOK 10 million, NOK 5 million above the Ministry of Education’s budget and NOK 5 million above the Ministry of Health and Care’s budget, to develop the infrastructures for processing sensitive data. The measure will contribute to safe use of and better access to health data for researchers and developers, strengthened health preparedness and knowledge in crises, and to national control over access to data.

• In the state budget for 2025, the Government will strengthen efforts for start-up companies throughout the country with a further NOK 52 million compared to 2024. This will be done through a targeted investment in financing schemes, networks for entrepreneurs and expertise services that strengthen the ability for international growth. The investment in the budget for 2025 comes on top of a strengthened effort for start-up companies with NOK 70 million in 2024. Parts of the investment will also be used to strengthen Innovation Norway’s work to mobilize and motivate entrepreneurship among women.

• The government will allocate NOK 4 million to a separate and new health accelerator program for health innovation through Innovation Norway. The accelerator program will be able to contribute to a link with external funding sources such as the EU’s Horizon Europe and the investor environment.