So what’s hindering U.S. medical device companies from innovating to their fullest potential? Some claim the medical device tax; a complicated, costly and time-consuming regulatory environment; and a greater demand for evidence-based devices create obstacles to innovation.
But others, such as Smith & Nephew CEO Olivier Bohuon contend the medical device industry should stop complaining about government cutbacks in funding for health-related services and blame itself. Bohuon is quoted as saying, “Many people are blaming price erosion on government austerity measures, but they are wrong. What is happening is that we as an industry are not bringing in enough innovative products to get higher prices.”
Whatever the reason, industry leaders maintain that innovation is still the way to overcome challenges facing the industry. So what can medical device firms do to be more innovative and develop products that can transform healthcare delivery and perhaps reduce costs? Consider these tips and strategies:
Openly Innovate
The Program in Open Innovation at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, defines “open innovation” as “The use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation. [This paradigm] assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology.”
A recent Medical Product Outsourcing article offered great examples of ways open innovation has led to the creation of considerable medtech advancements, such as how:
- Surgical bone saws, drills and screws were influenced by carpentry tools;
- Magnetic resonance imaging began as a chemical and physical analysis tool before it was realized that the technology could discern tumors from normal tissue;
- Bone glue (designed to replace screws in reconstructive surgery) was inspired by the adhesive gel produced by mussels that enables them to cling to rocks, piers and boat hulls; and
- Next-generation hypodermic needles are modeled after North American porcupine quills.
Open innovation is about approaching problems in non-traditional ways. This might mean working with new partners, changing the way problems are solved within your organization, or simply looking more closely at the world around you to find solutions.
Cross-Pollinate
By collaborating with people from a variety of disciplines, departments, cultures, ages, mind sets and motivations, medical device companies can access a greater diversity of ideas and, ultimately, better solutions.
A frequently cited innovation leader is 3M. The company credits its ability to consistently develop breakthrough products to its long-standing commitment to open innovation and the cross-pollination of ideas. For example, every technical employee at 3M has “dual citizenship,” meaning that he or she is part of a particular business, lab, or country, and part of the 3M global technical community.
Team members are encouraged to move between businesses and industries. As Fred J. Palensky, 3M’s chief technology officer recently said, “I myself have been at 3M for 34 years, and I’ve had 14 different jobs in five different industries and three different countries. I like to think of it as a movement of people and ideas that’s not mandated but officially endorsed.”
According to research conducted by Harvard Business School professor Lee Fleming, when multidisciplinary team members collaborate, the resulting innovation breakthroughs often are superior to the best innovations achieved by conventional approaches.1
Fleming writes that regardless of how far apart or misaligned the team members’ disciplines may be, the more established and well understood the fields you bring together, the greater the chance of good innovations and the lower the chance of poor ones. For example, much of the rapid progress in nanotechnology results from the marriage of two well-established fields—semiconductor manufacturing and mechanical engineering.
Through the cross-pollinating of ideas, the team members within an organization may arrive at a better way to solve a difficult problem or connect a combination of ideas that fulfills the needs of a new or existing market.
Listen to Customers
Often it’s the people on the frontlines of healthcare who can offer the most innovative ideas. The physicians and surgeons who interact with patients on a daily basis are the ones who best understand a device’s clinical application and where needs are unmet in their market.
For example, a surgeon might come up with an idea for the perfect tool to help him provide better quality of care to patients. Or a physician in an emerging market might recognize that the design of a device needs to be simplified in order to accommodate the capabilities of the majority of surgeons in that market.
Some medical device companies already have implemented strategies to improve engagement with physicians and patients who may have promising ideas for medical technologies. Medtronic Inc. developed an online Web portal to drive innovation. Shortly after the U.S. portal went live, it received between 100 and 150 proposals from inventors; 70 percent of those came from U.S. residents.2
By tapping into the knowledge and creativity of those who have a clear understanding of the patient, the physician, and the diseases they face, medical device companies can expand their ability to create new and different products that improve patient care.
Embrace the Paradox
Acclaimed breakthrough problem-solver and author of Creative Thinkering, Michael Michalko, said that “paradoxical” thinking is the hallmark of creating thinking.
For example:
- Lead by following;
- Win by losing;
- Take risk but be conservative;
- Seek diversity, but build a shared vision;
- Encourage creativity but be practical;
- Build a cohesive team but welcome conflict;
- Set realistic yet challenging goals; and
- Reward team effort but create a high-performance climate for individuals.
“Imagining two opposites or contradictory ideas, concepts, or images existing simultaneously is beyond logic,” Michalko writes. “It is a type of conceptualizing in which the thinking processes transcend ordinary logical thinking.If you hold two opposites together, your mind moves to a new level. The suspension of thought allows an intelligence beyond thought to act and create a new form.The swirling of opposites creates the conditions for a new point of view to bubble free from your mind.”
Because we live in a world that thinks in terms of cause and effect, paradoxes tend to make people feel ambivalent and uncertain. But that ambivalence is important, Michalko explains, because it changes the way we feel and see and makes possible a different thought process. As a result, we can gain a better understanding, arrive at a different insight, or discover a breakthrough idea.
Overcoming the Challenges
Whether it’s internal limitations, external pressures, or both, there are real challenges to innovation in medical devices. But as Heraclitus observed, the only thing that is constant is change. Whether or not a company adapts to that change and how it chooses to do so will determine who will capture the market and who will see the market pass them by.
More than ever, the industry needs to find ways to balance risk with reward, collaborate with partners inside and outside the industry, ask different kinds of questions, and look for new ways to innovate and create.
References:
- Fleming, Lee. September 2004. Perfecting Cross-Pollination. http://hbr.org/2004/09/perfecting-cross-pollination/ar/1
- Grayson, Katharine. January 21, 2011. Medtronic seeks ideas with new Web portal. http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/print-edition/2011/01/21/medtronic-seeks-ideas-with-new-web.html?page=all
- Michalko, Michael. True and False Technique. http://creativethinking.net/DT13_TrueAndFalse.htm?Entry=Good
Tricia Rodewald is director of Marketing & Strategic Alliances for Pro-Dex Inc., a publicly traded Irvine, Calif.-based company that develops and manufactures powered surgical devices for world-class medical device OEMs.