Innovation stories
Internal culture: The hidden barrier to innovation in healthcare
As the landscape of healthcare changes at a faster pace than ever, leaders are prioritizing ways to make healthcare more equitable and accessible. With the realities of mergers, pandemics, e-commerce, payment reform, and new tech, healthcare organizations must become increasingly innovative and focused on the patient experience to stay in the game. Those committed to providing healthcare for all must empower their teams to not only create new solutions for equity and accessibility but also further deliver on that promise through every interaction and communication — internally and externally. But many healthcare organizations face a significant barrier to growth, innovation, and equitable experiences. This threat is an invisible yet powerful force that you might not expect: internal culture.
Novo Nordisk Foundation awards DKK 128 million for an innovation platform at Denmark’s university hospitals
Innovation should be a fully integrated part of Denmark’s healthcare system, both in cultural and operational terms, and researchers should find it worthwhile to pursue the development of new methods and solutions for improving patient care. This is the vision for a 5-year pilot project to be run by innovation centers at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and Aarhus University Hospital and with local innovation employees at Aalborg and Odense University Hospitals. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded a grant of slightly more than DKK 128 million for the project.
Q&A with Denise Bierman
Innovation Council sat down with Denise Bierman, the Founder and CEO of Fontis Organic Skinfood, a premium high performance botanical skinfood brand, to talk about the beginnings of her company and what made it successful.
Unprecedented: The Rapid Innovation Response to COVID-19 and the Role of Intellectual Property
On 26 November the new research report about the role that intellectual property played in the development, manufacturing, and global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics was launched in Geneva. The report was co-authored by Innovation Council’s very own Jennifer Brant, and Prof. Mark Schultz.
The report, along with other materials including an executive summary is available here.
IC Member Techinvention nominated for SME Excellence Awards
Techinvention, a member of the Innovation Council, has been nominated for the SME Excellence Awards by the Indian Chamber of SMEs. The awards were initiated to recognise SMEs for their exceptional contribution and achievements in business and industry.
Powered Up Festival 2021
Streaming throughout October 2021, Powered Up festival features a line-up of live-streamed sessions which aim to inspire innovation, creativity & entrepreneurship through the power of intellectual property (IP). Trade marks, designs, patents, copyright, and other IP rights, help us all to grow, protect and share our ideas, creations and products with the rest of the world.
Organised by Ideas Powered for Creatives, the festival is a mix of panel discussions, keynote speeches and one-to-one interviews, which will showcase some of the most-creative young minds and talked-about companies in Europe.
Lack of diversity in patent holders means ‘half of the population’ isn’t getting needs met, economist Lisa Cook says
Diversity gaps in the U.S. patent system persist, in part, because of an absence of data on patent applicants. This lack of transparency has meant that patent holders are predominantly white, male and wealthy.
A recent study found that women, especially African-American and Latina women, obtain patents at significantly lower rates than men; people of color get approved for patents less often than white people; and individuals from lower-income families are less likely to acquire a patent than those who grew up in affluent families.
“Throughout history, women and underrepresented minorities have not been able to participate fully in each stage of the innovation process,” Lisa Cook, a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University.
The inclusion of these underrepresented groups would evidently also have a positive impact on the economy and would increase U.S. GDP by 2.7% per capita, and by roughly $1 trillion annually. The economic activity from patents is estimated to be over $8 trillion, more than one-third of U.S gross domestic product.
Gender gap in US patents leads to few inventions that help women
The economist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Rembrand Koning, reasoned that the relative scarcity of women’s health products on the market is due to a scarcity of women inventing them. A study published in June confirms this theory: few biotechnology patents are owned by women, and female inventors are significantly more likely than are male ones to patent health products for women.
Teams made up of all women, were 35% more likely than all-male teams to invent technologies relating to women’s health. But teams made up of all women or all men were equally likely to patent technologies for men’s health. If women and men had produced an equal number of patents since 1976, the researchers estimated, there would be 6,500 more female-focused inventions today.
Q&A with TechInvention
Innovation Council brings together diverse innovators to share their experiences with policymakers and other stakeholders. TechInvention Lifecare PvT Ltd, was founded in 2016 with the objective of increasing the supply of Vaccines and Bio-Therapeutics for low and middle-income countries (LMICs), is an Innovation Council member based in India. Here, in his own words, Syed Ahmed, the company’s CEO, shares insights about his company’s activities, challenges, and successes in recent years.