HHub creates business growth by spearheading Finnish expertise on wellbeing and performance on a global scale. We bring together bleeding-edge research, leading Finnish experts, and pioneering startup companies to innovate solutions that improve the performance of both people and organisations in an ever-changing world. Join us!
Wellbeing: significance of health highlighted by global pandemic
In the recent six months, health and wellbeing have become our societies’ most important topics by a wide margin.
– In future predictions of the past few years, global pandemics felt like a distant threat. Suddenly, they became very actual and real, even in Finland. The quick acceleration of an epidemic brought the importance of health to the forefront of everything in just a matter of a few days, says Nina Rautiainen, project manager of the HHub ecosystem.
– We all want to feel safe. The need for new solutions that improve, for instance health security, are significant.
Smart: business finds new forms and scales globally
From a business standpoint, the Covid19 pandemic has created a fragment that transforms both the way companies operate and how they build growth.
– One can take two kinds of approaches to a disruptive situation in their business: either to adapt to the scenario by adhering to existing rules of the business. Or by recognising new opportunities and prospects, which is what we’re trying to inspire companies to do, Rautiainen says.
The pandemic has already changed how we live and work. We now put special emphasis on hygiene, physical distancing, and digitally handle meetings that were previously done on a face-to-face basis. These have inevitably resulted in an entirely new need of services.
– For companies, the reigning situation is creating a lot of business opportunities. Familiar services, such as contactless purchasing or door-to-door deliveries have increased significantly during the Covid19 era. Companies with online shops are in a far stronger position to reach customers, as long as both their product and marketing work well, Rautainen adds.
– International demand can be attained by offering specific expertise that is scalable to a global market with reasonable effort. A great example of this can be found in Jyväskylä. The heartbeat interval analyser Firstbeat measures data of e.g. stress recovery and the quality of sleep. During the age of Covid19, the pressure threshold of people has been put to an extreme test, with many particularly interested in their own wellbeing. There’s a great demand and need for solutions like Firstbeat, Rautianen says.
In our new world, every company needs to rethink what kind of know-how it needs, how and in which channels it operates, and how digitalisation can help the scalability of its business.
– Companies are particularly in need of digitalising their services: how data is collected, stored and refined to be re-distributed in a way that generates value to all parties.
Company performance: growth generated by people
According to Rautiainen, an investor measuring the potential of a startup is particularly interested in how that startup is aiming to reach its goals. A central component of any successful organisation is a functioning team. – Plans and numbers in Excel sheets can all look promising, but the most decisive promise from an investor’s perspective lies in growth capability. In other words: the company’s ability to reach set goals.
– Often small sales resources, the lack of funding, or taxes are mentioned as reasons for slow growth. However, responsible ownership poses a far more strategic question. How people who join in building a startup and stay along for the ride are the ones who, with their own efforts, build the success story of their company.
The operation of any company is in jeopardy if there’s little attention paid to the performance of its individual employees. Recovery is also particularly important in upkeeping the performance of both an employee and their team.
From the perspective of knowledge work, improving performance requires a new way of thinking.
– Previously, simply putting more oomph to the production line resulted in increased growth. But nowadays this model no longer works. The discovery of customer value, customisation, and creative problem-solving have been cental – and they all require different resources of an individual. A person needs mental oxygen to breathe life to one’s productivity, Rautiainen describes.
– The performance of a company is measured by its ability to concentrate on what matters: how promises are met or exceeded – regardless if they concern customers, partners, personnel, or investors. And it’s not enough to simply hit the bullseye once. You need to do be able to hit it consistently, over and over again, Rautiainen ponders.
- Are you interested in being a forerunner of health and wellbeing from your company’s perspective?
- Are you able to provide new viewpoints and solutions to global challenges?
- Are you looking for a potential object of investment in the field of health and wellbeing, or in any digital solution involving the aforementioned?
- Do you want to be part of a network that innovates new solutions for improved performance on a global market?
If you answer to any of the above is yes, do join the HHub network right away! For further assistance, please contact HHub Project Manager Nina Rautiainen: tel. +358 50 4137 028 or nina.rautiainen@jyvaskyla.fi.
