The Health Innovation Expedition
Developing a new product or service for the first time is very much like going on a journey. An expedition into the unknown.
The more prepared we can be as to what is likely to happen and the information that we need, the more chances we have of success.
Right from the start The Health Innovation Expedition uses case studies, crafted team projects as well as the experience of the tutor and peer-experience to look at how the innovation process works in Health - something no generic innovation or business module can do. There is no single academic model that works in developing new innovations in health.
It covers two full days of practical workshops that sequentially take people on the innovation journey with a team project. On the third day there is the opportunity for the hosting organisation to talk about specific support from them, or from relevant organisations in the region. This is typically followed by a keynote speaker from an academic / medical or industrial entrepreneur and then there is the team pitching session. More about the structure of the course can be found lower down in the 'How it works' section.
Structure
The course helps researchers and front line healthcare providers understand the innovation process through a sequential series of workshops which use case studies and real examples to highlight themes. As teams, the skills learnt are applied to a team project which is developed from concept to virtual product. Ultimately someone who has been on the course will know how to present a problem and solution to convince others there is a problem and have a thorough understanding of the steps ahead to develop it.
The Health Innovation Expedition has four major elements to it – Prepare, Create, Test, and Opportunity. Each day starts with a contextual introduction.
-
The first day introduces what innovation is, how it works and what it takes to innovate and then we cover Prepare and Create.
-
On the second day of teaching, we will start with an elevator pitch outlining our solution to our known problem! Within this we will look at the complex and ever changing landscape of the NHS – possibly the biggest market for medical device innovations. Then we will change gears to a more business focus and look at the development aspects of our idea. We have one, we think it will work but where next with it? This leads us to Test and Opportunity.
Prepare & Create typically form day 1. Test & Opportunity typically form day 2.
1. Prepare
After the introductory session covering what innovation is, how it works and what it takes to innovate, we'll get started on The Innovation Expedition with perhaps the most important aspect of all — Prepare. Most people start with an idea and try and develop it. However, unless we understand and can quantify the actual problem it's addressing, there is little chance of the idea being developed.
2. Create
Finishing off the day's workshops, we'll get creative and start looking at ways to shape our thinking. Co-design is of vital importance in health innovation. By having understood the exact nature of the problem we are addressing, we can create a solution to fully address every aspect of it, giving it a greater chance of success. We'll have some fun with a range of structured creativity tools applied to various health-related scenarios.
3. Test
We start day 2 off with an elevator pitch and a look at the NHS innovation landscape and how the NHS is structured — and why it is important to understand the industry we want to get into or are in! We have a concept and we want to see if it'll work — even if in principle at this stage. This section will provide an overview of intellectual property, concept design and regulatory considerations. We won't delve too deeply as these are extremely large and complex areas.
4. Opportunity
By this stage, we're quite advanced in our potential solution development. But will anyone buy it or buy into the idea? What will it cost? What will the NHS save? Where will it fit into the patient pathway? We'll take our own team projects and develop a business model canvass. There'll be plenty of chances for teams to come and talk about their plans at different stages and work together as a whole to fine tunes these ideas.
Day 3 is the finale and tends to be made up of three elements:
-
Local support: Host organisation/relevant department talks about support available internally. This can also include regional support where applicable.
-
Keynote: Academic / Clinical Entrepreneur or Medtech business gives a keynote talk about their journey through the innovation development process
-
Dragon's Den: Teams pitch to a panel of dragons
It is impossible to include all of the business tools covered in (for example) an MBA or a Masters degree in Intellectual Property. But we cover enough to give people ready and transferable tools that they can apply in their own workplace for innovation or anything else! This will compliment existing courses available at different organisations that focus on one particular topic.
Interdisciplinary, Team-based, Project-led
In addition to practical understanding of the topics, the tools and techniques covered in the workshops are transferable to other areas of work (and indeed life!)
Softer skills are practiced through working as an interdisciplinary team (breaking down professional silos) using a team-based project where participants apply what they have learnt during and after sessions to a chosen project.
-
Teamwork with people from different disciplines and specialties
-
Project Management
-
Understanding how different industries operate
-
Research - either adding to the range of research tools or introducing new ones
-
Pitching
The practical and interactive nature of the course means that participants are able to fully engage with the themes discussed, gain practical experience of applying different tools to different problems, and take a real clinical unmet need through to virtual product to pitch in front of a group of Dragon investors.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
•An appreciation of interdisciplinary working (breaking down silos), networking and ways to manage a project with people with different skill sets which benefits researchers and NHS staff •An understanding of pitching with practical experience of doing so which is increasingly important in securing grant funding and investment •An understanding of different industries, barriers to innovation specific to health (and the NHS) and those common to others – generally around safety, risk and culture. This is essential for those looking to apply their skills in a different career or understand how to engage with other sectors •Where to find problems, how to explore problems through mapping (clinical audit), new literature sources, networks to determine how big, widespread, urgent and expensive the problem is •How to do a competitor analysis and why existing solutions aren’t necessarily an innovation killer •How to present a problem to enable rapid processing by support departments •The importance co-design and co-creation to ensure solutions are robust and will actually be used •Creativity tools to help create a solution to the actual problem which meets the need (Reverse Brainstorming, SCAMPER, Total Product Model, Six Thinking Hats) •Presenting the problem / solution to different audiences •Where to go with a new idea and who can help? •The main types of intellectual property, how they arise, how they can be used •A brief overview of medical device classifications •How to develop and test an idea in house, what will be needed for larger scale testing and support agencies •The Business Model Canvass and how this can be used to develop commercialisation plans •Elevator Pitches, Full pitches •A more enthused, networked and innovation ready workforce