A team with a strong research background now bringing brain measurement to intensive care units (ICUs)


Oulu, Finland



Invested in:



Timo Koskela, Jukka Kortelainen, Eero Väryrynen, Ilkka Juuso


AI, machine learning, medical, healthcare, medical device

No items found.
No items found.

in the news


When patients are in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) there can be a lot of mystery around the extent of their injuries and illnesses. Often patients may suffer from brain damage, but there hasn’t been an easy way to evaluate this status with the technology available today.

Cerenion, a Finnish startup led by an experienced research team out of University of Oulu, is developing technology to make it possible to measure brain function at a patient’s bed-side without requiring any changes to the care of the patient. Their unique innovation combines the power of the standard electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement with advanced machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Cerenion’s software can be deployed on existing hospital equipment. The C-TrendTM technology (patent pending) reveals the status of the brain as one simple score. This simple reading has the potential to improve the quality and cost of intensive care. Cerenion has a prototype currently being tested in hospitals and it aims to bring its product to market in 2019.

The business ideas came out of co-founder Jukka Kortelainen’s experience doing postgraduate studies in Baltimore, Maryland (United States) nearly a decade ago. Now Chief Medical Officer, Kortelainen did his doctoral thesis on EEG anesthesia depth measurements. When he returned to Finland, he joined with Timo Koskela (CEO), Eero Väryrynen (CTO) and Ilkka Juuso (COO).

All four have extensive experience in research at the University of Oulu. Koskela’s focus has been on the field of IT and he has advanced degrees in economics, business administration, and information engineering. Väryrynen has a Ph.D. in computer science mostly focusing on machine learning and signal analysis. Juuso most recently has been involved in building the Northern Finland Biobank.

Icebreaker has played a role as financial and business advisor, helping Cerenion sharpen their knowledge of licenses and other relevant paperwork.