Innovation, Innovations And Innovation In The Healthcare Industry

Introduction

According to Steven (2010), ideas are a connection of networks. These networks are created in the most unconventional places such as coffee shops and conference rooms. Most good ideas happen when people congregate together and share their interests, their mistakes. A lot of important ideas take time to come to fruition. This is because resources may be limited, not enough interest is generated. This paper is discuss the different sources of innovation, the trends and forecasts that can affect the healthcare industry and the role that disruptive innovation plays in the healthcare industry.

Sources of Innovation

There is a perception that innovation occurs in the brain of one individual. The idea then matures into a concept that

Employees are companies’ wealth of ideas when it comes to innovation. Several companies have recognized the importance of including innovation within their business model. In fact Google allows employees to spend about 20% of their time to create, design and innovate. Hoarty, Gurram & Laurence, E. (2013) recognize that employees play an integral role in innovation. This is because innovation goes beyond new product or service creation; it is the ‘generation, acceptance and implementation of new ideas, processes, products or services Hoarty, Gurram & Laurence, E. (2013).’ Therefore, companies must strive to introduce innovation as part of their culture.

Competitors. Davilla & Shelton (2013) state that, ‘competitors’ new products may be an indirect source’ for the company’s new product. For example, Microsoft started Windows but apple perfected the product by creating the Mac Book and installing a different operating system.

Customers. The company’s products and services are best to be scrutinized by the customers because they are the ones that have to use the service. They are in the best position to find defectives part of fault in the process. Bindroo, Mariadoss, Pillai (2012) state that customers have information regarding the products and services that used that can be advantageous to the company. This is free marketing information that can be used by in order to improve products, processes or services. These improvements are regarded as incremental innovation

Pisano, P., Pironti, M. & Rieple, A. (2015) define trends as ‘…a combination of social, technological, psychological and economic features.’ Customers, employees and suppliers corporate in order to create or customize products or services that mirror the market change. These trends can be divided into 2 categories: socioeconomic trends and technological trends.

Socioeconomic trends. Socioeconomic trends include, but are not limited to crowdsourcing and sharing economy.

- Crowdsourcing involves collecting ideas from social events such as fundraising, gatherings, for the purpose of change or innovation. Pisano, P., Pironti, M. & Rieple, A. (2015) believe companies target unorganized settings for crowdsourcing. In the medical field, conferences are often held where new ideas, technologies and strategies and shared among colleagues. These conferences range from $200.00 to $2,000.00 depending on the complexity of the topic.

- Sharing economy is ability to share information, data and services around the world. This information sharing should be accessible by all. This information sharing increases companies visibility of their goods and services. This visibility increases the company’s value as well as