D.2: Innovation with impact: evidence-based innovation
Context and goals
Contact: Dr Martin Feuz (ZHAW)
Around 90% of innovation projects fail. With evidence-based innovation, we want to identify the most promising projects earlier and systematically lead them to success.
A well-known and serious "pathology" in the innovation process is "to stop too late". Due to the particularly high level of complexity in the healthcare sector, digital innovation projects that turn out to be less promising late in the development process are particularly costly. As a result, resources are spent on projects that have little chance of success and the start of potentially more successful projects is delayed.
In addition, there have been many new approaches to innovation in large companies over the last 20 years (human-centred design, design thinking, lean startup, business model innovation) and innovation managers have adopted different methods. This often leads to methodological "confusion" and entails great risks of failure, especially in the healthcare sector.
Consequently, the evidence-based innovation toolkit (EbiT) to be developed and validated in this project is intended to help innovate in a more methodologically targeted manner and use evidence to create a common basis for decision-making. This allows unsuccessful projects to be identified early on in the innovation process and scarce resources to be invested in promising projects. Digital innovation and digital health are particularly suitable for validating at an early stage and minimising risks using an evidence-based approach.
Planned results
The result is an innovation toolkit that shows selected procedures that support the generation and measurement of relevant evidence. We are also developing an evidence scale to assess how certain we can be, based on the available evidence, that the hoped-for effect of an innovation will materialise. Using this scale, innovation projects can be compared with each other in terms of their potential and the evidence required for this. In addition, benchmarking should be possible in the longer term, comparing the company's own values with industry values and defining standard evidence values for specific projects in an industry. Companies that work with the innovation toolkit (EbiT) receive training beforehand that provides them with the basics and methodological tools for evidence-based work.
Contribution to overall innovation
The toolkit to be developed, which aims to create a common denominator (evidence) across different innovation approaches, is the main innovation of this project. It is the first toolkit designed to recognise and reduce risks in innovation projects in a targeted and timely manner using evidence and thus facilitate decision-making in innovation projects. This will make it possible to systematically improve the success rate of innovation projects and utilise scarce resources (budget and time) where added value can be created.
Institut für Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE)
The Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE) at the ZHAW is the competence centre for business innovation, innovation systems and entrepreneurship. It supports companies and other stakeholders in the development of entrepreneurial initiatives as well as in the analysis, design and management of innovation processes and cross-stakeholder innovation networks.
Beaufort AG
Beaufort is a Swiss consulting firm specialising in digital transformation, strategy development and product development.
Blackbeard Venture Studio GmbH
Blackbeard Venture Studio is an innovation consultancy that supports SMEs as well as innovation departments of large companies in various areas such as digitalisation, strategy and product & market development in order to make them "fit" for the future.
Crafft Strategic Digital Design
Crafft is a design agency that develops strategies and evidence-based innovations for organisations. Crafft helps create meaningful brand experiences across all touchpoints with a clear positioning and vision. Crafft helps companies develop digital products, services and experiences that put people at the centre, through a combination of utility and creativity. They reinvent and transform places by combining community building, technology and experience design.
headbits AG
Headbits is an innovation agency that supports companies in developing, designing and building new digital products.
PrognosiX AG
The startup PrognosiX supports healthcare institutions in accurately forecasting and determining optimal product ranges and inventories based on dynamic demand patterns using algorithms, particularly in supply chain management (e.g. in purchasing, bed logistics, reprocessing or operating theatre management). This enables healthcare institutions to better forecast requirements, reduce product ranges, focus resources and optimise costs.
Roche Diabetes Care
As a global leader in integrated personalised diabetes management (iPDM), Roche Diabetes Care has been pioneering the field for more than 40 years. Under the RocheDiabetes, Accu-Chek and mySugr brands, which include blood glucose monitoring, insulin delivery and digital solutions, they enable integrated personalised diabetes management to support people with diabetes.
Schweizerisches Paraplegiker Zentrum (SPZ)
The Swiss Paraplegic Centre (SPC) in Nottwil, Lucerne, is a private, nationally and internationally recognised specialist clinic for spinal cord, spinal and respiratory medicine; acute, rehabilitation and lifelong.
Swiss Cancer Foundation
The Swiss Cancer Foundation is a member-based foundation supported by companies, leaders and individuals who are actively committed to the topic of cancer out of conviction and/or personal involvement. As a small, agile foundation, the Swiss Cancer Foundation can act quickly, with a focus on innovation and impact. It concentrates primarily on projects with a leverage effect and innovation potential, while also providing complementary support to individual institutions and cancer organisations. The Swiss Cancer Foundation connects companies and oncology, business and science.
TBWA\ Switzerland AG
TBWA is a leading creative agency in Switzerland and helps companies to win the battle for their brands and products in fast-moving times with attention-grabbing messages to the right target group, in the right context and at the right time.
Many thanks for review and feedbacks go to:
MSc Innovation & Entrepreneurship Class of 2022
Friendly folks from Headbits: Dom Zünd, Louisa Clark
Matthias Koller
Daniel Boos
Gesine Dittrich
Myvienne Nguyen
Ruzbeh Tadj
Friendly folks at Hudson Goodman: Paolo del Ponte, Christian Ziegler and Francesco Bosia
Ben Graziano
Richard Bläse
