Alrek helseklynge

What Alrek helseklynge does

Alrek helseklynge is a non-profit health and care innovation cluster based in Bergen, Norway, founded in 2017 and led by Cluster Leader Berit Angelskår. The organization functions as a coordination and collaboration platform rather than a commercial product company, bringing together 10 institutional partners spanning universities (Universitetet i Bergen, Høgskulen på Vestlandet, VID), hospitals (Helse Bergen/Haukeland universitetssjukehus, Haraldsplass Diakonale Sykehus), Bergen municipality, Vestland fylkeskommune's dental health service, research institutes (NORCE, Folkehelseinstituttet), and NAV Vestland. It operates from a physical hub at Årstadveien 17, co-located with Alrek legesenter (a general practice), and serves health professional students, researchers, user representatives, and citizens in the Vestland region.

The cluster does not operate a proprietary technology platform. Its portfolio consists of innovation and research projects including the Alrekpodden and Samhandlingspodden podcast series, a teledentistry integration pilot for elderly migrants using intraoral cameras, the CASR-SF Norwegian translation for intimate partner violence screening, the LifeOnSoMe survey of approximately 3,500 upper secondary students on digital health trust, and a health registry data utilization workshop. It maintains nine professional groups (faggrupper) covering areas such as elderly health, migration health, child and youth, user involvement, learning and coping, registries, and innovation and e-health, plus a User Panel and Student Panel.

The cluster's business model is grant- and partnership-funded rather than commercial. It distributes collaboration funds (837,100 NOK available in 2027, up to 250,000 NOK per project) and administers the Rebekka Ege Hegermanns Legat (REHL) endowment awarding up to 1,000,000 NOK across two projects per round. It has also secured external government funding such as the FRONESIS project via HK-dir. There are no pricing models, no commercial customers, and revenue is not publicly disclosed. Marketing and dissemination occur via events (Alrek helsedager, Styrke i samspel-dagane, Kunnskapskommune-konferansen Vest, Arendalsuka, SKIL Forum, Arbeidsliv og folkehelse), podcasts, an email newsletter, website content, and a Facebook presence.

Name

Alrek helseklynge

Legal name

Alrek helseklynge

Website

https://alrekhelseklynge.no

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Alrek helseklynge is a non-profit Bergen-based health innovation cluster coordinating interdisciplinary research, education, and practice collaboration among 10 universities, hospitals, municipalities, and research institutes in Norway's Vestland region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Cluster Coordination

NAICS

Business Associations (813910), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Health Governance, Interagency Coordination & Partnerships (HLAJAMAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Health Access & Social Care Innovations (Community Health, Telehealth for Underserved) (BPAGALAG), Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations (HLAJAKAN)

Keywords

• Health cluster coordination
• Interdisciplinary health research
• Healthcare innovation network
• Health professional education
• Public health partnerships

Headquarters

HQ city

Bergen

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Collaboration funding (Alrek samarbeidsmidler): The cluster distributes annual collaboration funds (samarbeidsmidler) to support joint projects among cluster partners. Available funds in 2027: 837,100 NOK total, with up to 250,000 NOK per project. Up to 125,000 NOK is reserved for student projects. Projects funded across 1-2 year durations.
2. Rebekka Ege Hegermanns Legat (REHL) funding: REHL provides research and innovation funding for projects involving Alrek cluster partners. Up to 1,000,000 NOK total can be awarded to up to 2 projects per funding round, for 1-2 year project durations. Focus areas: public health, primary healthcare, and collaboration. Minimum two cluster partners required.
3. FRONESIS project – external government funding: Funded by the Directorate for Higher Education and Competence (HK-dir) as part of the Pilot Scheme for Municipal Practice in Health and Social Education Programs. Supports development of practice placement models for medical students in general practice.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Alrek helseklynge is a non-profit health and care innovation cluster that coordinates interdisciplinary collaboration among 10 institutional partners including universities, hospitals, municipalities, and research institutes in the Vestland region of Norway. It facilitates shared research projects, health professional education, practice arenas, and knowledge dissemination through podcasts, events, professional groups, and collaboration funding programs.

Product overview

Alrek helseklynge operates as a collaborative health cluster rather than a commercial product company. The organization functions as a coordination and knowledge-sharing network connecting healthcare institutions, universities, and municipalities in the Bergen region. Key offerings include the Alrekpodden podcast series for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange, research initiatives like the LifeOnSoMe survey on youth digital health trust, teledentistry integration projects for elderly migrants, and the Samhandlingspodden podcast on healthcare communication. The cluster also facilitates events, conferences, professional forums, and various research projects addressing healthcare challenges.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Alrekpodden A cross-disciplinary podcast platform providing knowledge sharing, career insights, and professional discussions between students and practitioners across healthcare disciplines including psychology, nursing, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and physiotherapy.
• LifeOnSoMe Survey A research initiative examining youth trust in health information across digital platforms, including social media, search engines, and AI-generated content, involving approximately 3,500 upper secondary school students.
• Teledentistry Integration Project A project exploring the integration of teledentistry (digital dental health solutions) in healthcare services for elderly migrants in Bergen, using intraoral cameras for remote oral examinations.
• Samhandlingspodden A podcast focused on communication and collaboration across healthcare service levels, developed in collaboration with the National Competence Center for Emergency Medicine (NKLM) and Haraldsplass Diakonale Sykehus.
• Health Registry Data Project A project addressing challenges in accessing and utilizing health registry data for research, including a workshop organized by the Registry professional group to discuss data minimization and legal framework interpretation.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Universitetet i BergencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University of Bergen (UiB) is a founding and core institutional partner in Alrek helseklynge. UiB contributes research expertise, academic programs, and student involvement across multiple health disciplines including medicine, psychology, dentistry, pharmacy, and public health. UiB hosts the DRIV – Center for Women's Health Research and leads key projects including FRONESIS on medical student practice placements. The Medical Faculty (Det medisinske fakultet) plays a central coordinating role in the cluster.
• Bergen kommune (Byrådsavdeling for eldre, helse og omsorg)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBergen Municipality is a core partner providing municipal health service perspectives and implementation capacity. The municipality's Department for Elder Care, Health and Care contributes to research, innovation, and practice development in primary healthcare, elderly care, public health, and health promotion.
• NORCEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNORCE (Norwegian Research Centre) is a research institute and key R&D partner in the cluster. NORCE contributes research expertise across multiple areas including health services research, public health, primary care, and innovation. Multiple NORCE researchers lead or participate in cluster projects including KLAR (women's health), grief support for refugees, and violence screening tools.
• Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWestern Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) is a core partner contributing education and research across health and welfare sciences. HVL participates in interprofessional education projects, research on elderly care, mental health, migration health, and provides student placements within cluster activities.
• Helse Bergen (Haukeland universitetssjukehus)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHelse Bergen is the main hospital trust and specialist healthcare partner in the cluster. It provides clinical practice arenas, specialist health expertise, and participates in research collaboration covering areas including emergency medicine (Prehospital Vurderingsenhet), cancer care, geriatrics, and mental health. The hospital's various departments are represented in multiple cluster projects.
• Haraldsplass Diakonale SykehuscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHaraldsplass Diakonale Sykehus is a faith-based hospital and clinical practice partner contributing to interprofessional education (e.g., SAMSyF project with pharmacy and nursing students), palliative care (Sunniva palliative team), and health communication projects (Samhandlingspodden).
• Folkehelseinstituttet (FHI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Norwegian Institute of Public Health contributes national public health expertise, epidemiological data, and research capacity. FHI maintains national health registries and participates in the cluster's Faggruppe for registre (registry expert group) and research projects on population health.
• Vestland fylkeskommune (tannhelsetjenesten)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVestland County Authority participates through its dental health service, contributing to oral health research and the teledentistry project for elderly migrants. The county authority also supports the Styrke i samspel collaboration conference and other cross-sector initiatives.
• VID vitenskapelige høyskolecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVID is a private university college contributing research and education in health sciences, nursing, and social work. VID participates in palliative care research, interprofessional learning, and elderly care projects within the cluster.
• NAV VestlandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNAV Vestland (Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) contributes to the Arbeidsliv og folkehelse (Work Life and Public Health) conference and related projects on inclusion in working life, disability management, and the intersection of health and employment.
• TkVestland (Tannhelsetjenestens kompetansesenter Vestland)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTkVestland contributes dental health expertise to the teledentistry project for elderly migrants in Bergen, providing specialized knowledge on oral health challenges faced by migrant populations and serving as a co-financier of the project alongside Alrek helseklynge.
• Polyfon kunnskapsklynge for musikkterapiminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPolyfon is a knowledge cluster for music therapy that co-organizes the Forskernatt (Research Night) on brain health with Alrek helseklynge, under the Forskningsdagene in Bergen festival.
• Idrettsklynge VestminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIdrettsklynge Vest (Sports Cluster Western Norway) co-organizes the Arendalsuka event on loneliness and health with Alrek helseklynge, and participates in Styrke i samspel-dagane, connecting sports, public health, and community development.
• VerdighetssenteretminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVerdighetssenteret (Dignity Centre) contributes expertise in dignity and palliative care to the cluster's projects on end-of-life care, including participation in the PIFO project and the 'Samskaping som verkar' session at Styrke i samspel 2026.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Innovation Norge: Norway's national innovation agency, providing cluster programs, grants, and innovation services across sectors. A broader incumbent that operates and funds health-relevant cluster initiatives, often through the same Arena and Norwegian Innovation Cluster programs that Alrek is part of.

Direct peers

• Oslo Cancer Cluster: Norway's most established health innovation cluster, coordinating universities, hospitals, and industry partners around oncology research and commercialization. Highly comparable non-profit cluster model with multi-institutional governance and grant-driven funding, the main difference being Alrek's broader (non-disease-specific) regional health focus.
• Norwegian Smart Care Cluster: Norwegian cluster focused on welfare and care technology, connecting municipalities, research, and suppliers. Same non-profit cluster governance and grant-funded operating model as Alrek, with a more technology-product and welfare-services orientation but a matching institutional-membership structure.
• Norway Health Tech: The largest Norwegian health technology cluster, linking companies, hospitals, research, and public-sector actors. Most directly comparable to Alrek in operating model (cluster organization, partnered innovation, funded projects), but with a national footprint and stronger industry/company orientation rather than municipal-academic.

Regional players

• Health2B: Nordic health innovation hub based in Denmark, operating across the Nordics with a cluster/network model. Comparable in its cross-disciplinary health innovation focus and partner-driven project model, but Nordic-region rather than Vestland-specific and not a direct competitor in the same geographic territory.
• Copenhagen Health Innovation (CHI): Health innovation cluster/hub based in the Copenhagen region, linking university hospitals, universities, and municipalities around health research and implementation. Comparable cluster operating model with a clear regional scope, but geographically separate and operating at larger scale in a different national health system.
• VIS (Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap): Regional innovation company serving Vestland-based companies and partners, with overlap in stakeholders and projects within the Bergen ecosystem. Operates in the same geography but is broader than health, making it a partial competitor for regional/innovation funding rather than a direct health-cluster substitute.

Others

• ECHAlliance (European Connected Health Alliance): Global health innovation network connecting clusters, governments, and providers across Europe and beyond. Functions as a meta-organization of clusters like Alrek, providing international partnership channels that Alrek's regional-only footprint cannot access on its own.
• Bergen Teknologioverføring (BTO): Technology transfer office serving the Bergen region, including UiB and Haukeland University Hospital. Closely co-located with Alrek's ecosystem and shares several partner institutions (UiB, Helse Bergen, HVL), making it a complementary rather than competing actor in the regional health-innovation value chain.

Emerging players

• Karolinska Institutet Innovations: Innovation arm of Sweden's flagship medical university, operating a comparable university-anchored health innovation model across research, education, and clinical practice. Comparable in academic-cluster linkage but on a different geographic scale and with stronger commercial/IP orientation than Alrek.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/alrekhelseklynge
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alrek

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Alrek helseklynge