Accelerating into the Future: How Leaders in Healthcare Can Embrace Open Innovation and Ecosystem Thinking

The healthcare sector is at a critical juncture: the demands and expectations of patients (or health consumers) far exceed the available resources in people and budget. With what the Future Today Institute refers to as the "technology supercycle," featuring the convergence and exponential growth of artificial intelligence, a connected 'ecosystem of things', and biotechnology, our society is evolving at an unprecedented pace.

The traditional push model of innovation within healthcare—characterized by long market introduction times, high risks, and independently developed innovations—cannot keep up with these changes. Open Innovation offers a promising approach by leveraging external ideas, technologies, and partnerships that operate in a more demand-driven modus operandi based on shared problem, risk, and outcome. This can accelerate the development and implementation of new healthcare solutions and reduce innovation risks.

Innovating Your Innovation

Not all companies and organizations active in healthcare today realize that innovation is about access and collaboration, not ownership. There's a clear business case for recycling the abundance of technologies and outcomes from user and market experiments in adjacent industries. It's precisely those adjacent industries that are fundamentally changing healthcare.

The focus in the healthcare startup scene is on patient engagement and behavior, data analysis, and new care models. With venture capital investments exceeding $100 billion in recent years, a massive wave of new solutions is emerging. An exciting development and example of an adjacent player entering the market is Spotify founder Daniel Ek's $65 million venture, Neko Health. This startup offers preventive healthcare through full-body scans. Supported by AI software, doctors are helped to detect conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and metabolic syndromes. It's another step towards what is labeled as the further democratization of healthcare for consumers.

However, while open innovation is the new normal in several domains, few healthcare organizations have implemented an open innovation curriculum or interface with the outside world to ensure success in this new innovation contact sport. They have not answered for themselves what skills are needed to be successful innovators in today's world. Even fewer organizations have successfully adopted the open innovation mindsets needed to collaborate successfully.

The complexity arises from the fact that open innovation is about innovating your innovation. As if innovating were not challenging enough, organizations must also renew how they innovate. No wonder it's so challenging!

Leveraging Solutions from Other Industries

The concept of using the abundance of technologies and outcomes from other industries is particularly relevant for healthcare. Technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) have found innovative applications in healthcare, from improving patient care to streamlining operations and increasing data security. By operating in an open innovation mode, healthcare organizations can more effectively integrate these technologies, drawing on the expertise and progress made in other sectors, such as the high-tech industry.

Promoting Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange

The health ecosystem includes a diverse range of stakeholders, including hospitals, research institutions, technology companies, patient advocacy organizations, and policymakers. Open innovation encourages collaboration among these stakeholders, breaking down silos and facilitating a more holistic approach to tackling healthcare challenges. Proven open innovation models also address handling conflicting interests. Initiatives like shared research platforms, joint ventures, and innovation hubs can serve as catalysts for collaborative innovation, pooling resources and expertise to address complex health problems.

Overcoming Barriers

Implementing open innovation in healthcare is not without challenges. Issues such as privacy, intellectual property rights, and cultural resistance to external collaboration can hinder progress. Overcoming these barriers requires a mindset shift among healthcare leaders to value access and collaboration over ownership. Furthermore, developing a curriculum for open innovation, as the Ecosystem Thinking Institute does daily, can equip healthcare professionals with the skills and frameworks needed to successfully leverage the potential of open innovation.

Case Studies and Success Stories

There are numerous examples of open innovation in healthcare that have led to transformative outcomes. Partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and biotech startups have accelerated drug discovery and development. Crowdsourcing platforms have enabled patients and healthcare professionals to contribute to medical research and innovation. Moreover, open innovation challenges have led to the development of new healthcare solutions, from mobile health apps to diagnostic tools.

Conclusion

Open innovation represents a tremendous opportunity to advance healthcare innovation, making it more inclusive, efficient, and impactful. By embracing the principles of access, collaboration, and leveraging external expertise and technologies, the healthcare sector can better meet the needs of patients and society as a whole. Embracing this approach requires learning, adapting, and a commitment to fostering an ecosystem where innovation can thrive beyond the confines of traditional limitations.

What opportunities do you see? Are you actively involved in innovation in healthcare? What are your experiences with Open Innovation in healthcare?

Want to know more? Sign up for the Masterclass Open Innovation at the High Tech Campus. Or contact ESTI.

* Future Today Institute: https://futuretodayinstitute.com/trends/

** Neko Health: https://www.nekohealth.com/en