Photo: Suomalainen vesiliikuntainstituutti (Finnish Aquatic Institute) is one of Jyväskylä's newest wellness technology enterprises. Eevaliisa Anttila (left) and Elina Harju are seen here testing the water's relaxing effects.
Top-flight expertise underpins Jyväskylä's wellness sector companies, whose products can be seen in people's everyday routine in terms of high quality of life. Two recently established firms, Firstbeat Technologies and Suomalainen Vesliliikuntainstituutti (Finnish Aquatic Institute), have bravely expanded their know-how and gone their own way.
Extensive research conducted at the Jyväskylä-based Research Institute for Olympic Sports a few years ago was able to demonstrate a connection between athletes' over-training and stress in workers. The research team included visionary Joni Kettunen Ph.D. who spotted the opportunity to turn expertise into business. As a spin-off the Research Institute for Olympic Sports gave birth to Firstbeat Technologies Ltd, which began to develop technology on the basis of research findings.
The company's slogan 'Your hearts tells more than just your pulse' communicates the core idea. The software company is specialized in heart beat analysis and applications of the same. One of the applications is a physiology-based program for measuring and analyzing stress levels.
"Especially in knowledge-related work loads are often difficult to measure, which makes our innovation the first real solution to the problem. We offer interpreted data on the body's events, a kind of window onto how the body is functioning", says managing director Kettunen.
The advantage of the company's technology offering is its adaptability. It is well suited to a variety of equipment environments: wrist-top computers, fitness equipment and PC software. The same technology can be adapted for consumer devices as well as measurement and analysis tools aimed at service providers.
As its customers Firstbeat Technologies Ltd aims to find a nice blend of international equipment brands that manufacture among other things heart rate monitors and fitness equipment. "We can offer technology for use in their own devices, in other words we can put some intelligence into them. An application for Finnish-based Suunto indicates, for instance, whether a particular physical activity actually had a beneficial impact on fitness."
According to Kettunen the professional market for corporate wellness in Finland is regarded as equally important at the least.
The challenges of professional use are often related to communication: how to explain the workings of the body to employees in an understandable way. One dimension of the application currently in use at health care centres is a picture of how body load and recovery are divided in the course of the working day.
"A state of stress may be caused by a variety of factors. Measurement always provokes a dozen questions, that's why an expert is required to interpret the data. Many different parties are interested in stress measurement, but it demands cooperation and the combining of viewpoints for the whole to assume concrete form as an operating model."
Jyväskylä has risen between two lakes. In the immediate surroundings there are hundreds of smaller areas of water. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Suomalainen Vesiliikuntainstituutti Oy (Finnish Aquatic Institute) has made Jyväskylä its home.
The company encourages people to participate in various forms of aquatic exercise in natural waters. "Finns have always been fond of natural waters, even though with the arrival of swimming pools and spas people's fitness habits have become more institutionalized. Somewhere deep down, however, there is a still a desire for aquatic exercise in natural surroundings. We started to turn people's back-to-nature yearning to our advantage", explains managing director Eevaliisa Anttila.
Opinion polls on the subject of physical recreation reveal that swimming tops the list of sports disciplines that people would like to practice. All that was needed was a novel aid that actually encourages people to do some exercise - the water belt.
The company came across a ready-made product, the development of which was taken further. Simultaneously a new kind of fitness activity - water jogging - was born. Ideas for the new discipline were pursued in cooperation with Suomen Latu ry (Central Association for Recreational Sports and Outdoor Activities), which brought Nordic walking to Finland so successfully. "Boosting the popularity of the new discipline requires lots of work and presupposes extensive training, but we managed to generate a water jogging boom."
Suomalainen Vesiliikuntainstituutti has an interest not only in natural waters but also in indoor pools. According to Anttila there is a demand for technology solutions related to aquatic exercise. Among other things she has worked as a consultant on pool design for a multipurpose hall being built for senior citizens in Kainuu.
"Water has a really relaxing effect. When the aquatic element is combined with music, the relaxing influence is enhanced further. We've done a lot of research on underwater sound reproduction. In the pool environment there's an opportunity to use technology in a versatile manner. In the swimming pools of the future it will be possible to obtain fitness instruction via video- conferencing facilities, for instance."
Joni Kettunen and Eevaliisa Anttila consider it important that wellness technology has been clearly singled out for development in Jyväskylä. The emphasis brings benefits for all the firms in the branch and creates a new operating culture.
According to Kettunen the necessary know-how is available locally, which assists recruiting. "In Jyväskylä doing new things is received favourably. This facilitates the implementation of various pilot projects, for instance, and generally moving matters forward."
Suomalainen Vesiliikuntainstituutti is continuing development of a water belt intended for the physically challenged under the shield of Jyväskylä Science Park's Wellness Dream Lab.
"The Wellness Dream Lab (WDL) provides us with support in those areas where we lack expertise of our own, such as finding specialists in plastics technology. The WDL is also supporting our product development efforts financially", Anttila underlines.
Photo 2 below: "Our application is able to demonstrate what kind of pressure an employee is under during the working day", states Joni Kettunen.
By Pia Tervoja Photos by Petteri Kivimäki