Nordic university hospitals strengthen collaboration on responsible AI in healthcare
Keywords:HUS Helsinki University Hospital is taking part in Nordic collaboration to promote the responsible and scalable use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. The work brings together leading university hospitals and partners across the Nordic region to share knowledge, strengthen common approaches, and support the future development of patient care.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve the quality, accessibility, and efficiency of healthcare. At the same time, its use requires clear leadership, strong governance, ethical and legal safeguards, and close cooperation between healthcare, research, innovation, and education.
These themes were discussed in Stockholm in August, where Nordic university hospitals, public authorities, researchers and healthcare experts met to exchange experiences on how AI can move from individual pilots to responsible use in everyday clinical practice.
For HUS, Nordic cooperation offers an important way to learn from practical examples, identify shared challenges, and develop solutions that can create tangible benefits for patients and healthcare professionals.
From pilots to wider adoption
A central question for all healthcare organizations is how AI solutions can be implemented safely and effectively beyond individual pilot projects. Technology alone is not enough: organizations also need shared principles, clear responsibilities, and structures for monitoring impact and risks.
University hospitals have a special role in this development because they combine highly specialized care with research, education, and innovation. By working together, the Nordic university hospitals can avoid duplication, compare experiences, and support the scaling of solutions that have demonstrated value.
One concrete tool supporting this work is the Nordic AI Health Map, which brings together information on AI initiatives in healthcare across the Nordic countries. The map makes ongoing work more visible and helps organizations find relevant contacts, compare approaches, and build on solutions that already exist.
A stronger Nordic voice in European AI development
Nordic collaboration is particularly relevant as the European Union develops common rules and policy frameworks for AI, including the AI Act. The Nordic countries share many strengths, such as high trust in public institutions, strong health data traditions, advanced digital systems, and close cooperation between the public sector, healthcare, and research.
Together, the Nordic university hospitals can contribute practical healthcare perspectives to European AI development and help ensure that regulation, innovation and patient safety support one another.
No future for Nordic healthcare without AI
The Nordic University Hospital Alliance (NUHA), of which HUS is a member, recently published a position paper highlighting the critical role of artificial intelligence in the future of healthcare. The paper calls for stronger health data foundations, shared AI evaluation infrastructures, and a common framework for trusted AI across the Nordic countries.
Further information
- Read Karolinska University Hospital’s news article about the Nordic AI conference: Nordic AI conference at Karolinska University Hospital marks starting point for stronger collaboration on the future of healthcare
- Read NUHA’s position paper news article: No future for Nordic healthcare without AI