Health-related Innovations Research Articles

Successful Aging and Preventative Health: A Business Owner's Perspective

Successful aging can be viewed as a continuous and ongoing holistic process or as a goal-oriented approach. Both views provide sufficient exploration and definition toward development continuing through adulthood into the latter. However, the investigation of successful aging and how its definition can become affected by technological-based health innovation is an under-researched topic. Using literature and qualitative interview findings, successful aging may be considered to also incorporate the use of health-related innovation assets under the umbrella of preventative health, which contributes as an important factor toward how older individuals perceive the success of themselves and the various areas of their life as they continue to develop in late adulthood.

Perspectives of COPD patients, publicly funded scientists, and industry representatives on responsibility and stakeholder engagement in drug discovery research

ABSTRACT Ensuring societal influence in research and innovation through stakeholder engagement is vital in the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) framework. By studying a drug discovery project, we examine how stakeholders can influence drug discovery and development meaningfully. Through semi-structured interviews, we explore: How do patients as potential users of a new drug, the scientists who discover it, and the industry that might develop it, think about responsibility and stakeholder engagement in drug discovery? Most of the responses voiced by our informants about responsibility and stakeholder engagement relate to the broader institutional and political context of health-related innovation, rather than the specific research project. We argue, that in order to make stakeholder engagement work within some forms of drug discovery research, it should be used as a forum for mobilizing political and organizational debate, taking critical dialogues beyond project-specific engagement in innovation.

How to embed ethics into laboratory research

ABSTRACT Health-related innovation in biotechnology requires anticipating potential bioethical implications. In this article, we present a strategy to embed ethics in a group of early-stage researchers performing research in gene therapy and regenerative medicine in the laboratory phase. We conducted a series of focus group meetings with early-stage researchers who work in biotechnology laboratories. The objective was to reflect on the bioethical challenges of their own work and to promote the integration of research ethics with laboratory practice. The activity was assessed with questionnaires completed by the researchers before and after the meetings, and the analyses of the focus groups’ content. As a result of the focus group series, all participants changed their perspectives about ethical issues regarding their planned research, developed the ability to reflect and debate on research ethics and had increased awareness of ethical issues in their own research activities. Half of them made changes in their research work. The study provides a concrete strategy to embed ethics and to strengthen responsibility in laboratory research. It is a strategy that allows to perform ethics reflection “on site” and in “real time” and complements the classic strategy of ethics assessment of the research protocol before starting the research procedure.

Global Learning for Health Equity: A Literature Review.

In high income countries struggling with escalating health care costs and persistent lack of equity, there is growing interest in searching for innovative solutions developed outside national borders, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Engaging with global ideas to apply them to local health equity challenges is becoming increasingly recognized as an approach to shift the health equity landscape in the United States (US) in a significant way. No single name or set of practices yet defines the process of identifying LMIC interventions for adaptation; implementing interventions in high-income countries (HIC) settings; or evaluating the implementation of such projects. This paper presents a review of the literature describing the practice of adapting global ideas for use in the US, particularly in the area of health equity. Specifically, the authors sought to examine; (i) the literature that advocates for, or describes, adaption of health-related innovations from LMICs to HICs, both generally and for health equity specifically, and (ii) implementation practices, strategies, and evidence-based outcomes in this field, generally and in the area of health equity specifically. The authors also propose terminology and a definition to describe the practice. The literature search included two main concepts: global learning and health equity (using these and related terms). The search consisted of text-words and database-specific terminology (e.g., MeSH, Emtree) using PubMed, Embase (Elsevier), CINAHL (Ebsco), and Scopus in March 2021. The authors also contacted relevant experts to identify grey literature. Identified sources were categorized according to theme to facilitate analysis. In addition, five key interviews with experts engaged with global ideas to promote health equity in the United States were conducted to develop additional data. The literature review yielded over ninety (n = 92) sources relating to the adaptation of global ideas from low resource to higher resource settings to promote health equity (and related concepts). Identified sources range from those providing general commentaries about the value of seeking health-related innovations outside the US border to sources describing global projects implemented in the US, most without implementation or outcome measures. Other identified sources provide frameworks or guidance to help identify and/or implement global ideas in the US, and some describe the role of the World Health Organization and other international consortia in promoting a global approach to solving domestic health equity and related challenges. The literature review demonstrates that there are resources and commentary describing potential benefits of identifying and adapting novel global ideas to address health equity in the US, but there is a dearth of implementation and evaluation data. Terminology is required to define and frame the field. Additional research, particularly in the area of implementation science and evidence-based frameworks to support the practice of what we define as 'global learning' for health equity, is necessary to advance the practice.

The Civil City Framework for the Implementation of Nature-Based Smart Innovations: Right to a Healthy City Perspective

This paper aims to expand the current debate concerning the implementation of health-related innovations by employing the rights-based approach. Specifically, we address the challenges related to the implementation of technological and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) from the right to the city perspective. As a result, we present a comprehensive Civil City Framework that involves the synergic use of ICT tools and participation models to mobilize grassroots potential for building healthier cities, while ensuring equity and respect for diverse needs. We explain the participatory and technological aspects of implementing and monitoring innovative NBS, involving data gathering through environmental sensors, personal wristbands, and smartphone apps. Finally, we highlight opportunities and challenges stemming from the use of health- and environment-monitoring technologies. To build such a vision one needs to reconceive the city as commons, enabling collective action of city residents and cooperation between different local stakeholders. This can be achieved by embedding a pentahelix approach of multi-governance in urban planning, based on a close interaction between five key stakeholders, including public authorities, industry and business sector, academia, civil society organizations, and individual citizens.

A Structured Pathway Toward Disruption: A Novel HealthTec Innovation Design Curriculum With Entrepreneurship in Mind.

The typical curriculum of training and educating future clinicians, biomedical engineers, health IT, and artificial intelligence experts lacks needed twenty first-century skills like problem-solving, stakeholder empathy, curiosity stimulation, entrepreneurship, and health economics, which are essential generators and are pre-requirements for creating intentional disruptive innovations. Moreover, the translation from research to a valuable and affordable product/process innovation is not formalized by the current teachings that focus on short-term rather than long-term developments, leading to inaccurate and incremental forecasting on the future of healthcare and longevity. The Stanford Biodesign approach of unmet clinical need detection would be an excellent starting methodology for health-related innovation work, although unfortunately not widely taught yet. We have developed a novel lecture titled HealthTec Innovation Design (HTID) offered in an interdisciplinary setup to medical students and biomedical engineers. It teaches a future-oriented view and the application and effects of exponential trends. We implemented a novel approach using the Purpose Launchpad meta-methodology combined with other innovation generation tools to define, experiment, and validate existing project ideas. As part of the process of defining the novel curriculum, we used experimentation methods, like a global science fiction event to create a comic book with Future Health stories and an Innovation Think Tank Certification Program of a large medical technology company that is focused on identifying future health opportunities. We conducted before and after surveys and concluded that the proposed initiatives were impactful in developing an innovative design thinking approach. Participants' awareness and enthusiasm were raised, including their willingness to implement taught skills, values, and methods in their working projects. We conclude that a new curriculum based on HTID is essential and needed to move the needle of healthcare activities from treating sickness to maintaining health.

Impact of Patents on Pharmaceutical Companies and Public Health: Critical Study

This paper undertakes a review of available studies to provide a perspective on the role of Intellectual Property (IP) protection in developing health care innovations in India. The relevant literature in the context of India has followed two strands: some studies focus on the implications of the new IP regime on access to health care, while others explore the implications of IP on innovation in general and medical innovation in particular. 1.product innovations in drugs; 2.process innovations in pharmaceutical industry; 3.new drug delivery mechanisms, bio-enhancers that improve bio-availability/efficacy and dosage forms; 4.product innovations in medical equipment and devices; 5.innovations in the delivery of health services; and 6.Policy innovations to enhance access to health care. “It is not always possible to attribute all the aforementioned changes to the change in the IP regime as firms and governments strategically innovate for a variety of reasons. However, in this review, we focus on two types of “innovative responses” that may affect health care access and innovation, as these may be, at least partly, a response to the changes in the IP regime”: 1.Changes in innovation inputs and outputs, reviewing studies that capture implications of IP for changes in research and development (R&D), technology licensing/collaboration, patents, and other innovations at the firm level. 2.Institutional/policy innovations in the health care sector to provide better access to health care. For the purpose of this article, all policy experiments in this space are seen as ‘innovative’ even though these may not be globally ‘novel’. The following section provides a broad overview of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and health care provision in India. The “Changes in the IP regime and IP policy innovations” section briefly discusses the changes in IP policy in recent years to help appreciate other policy and health-related innovations. The subsequent three sections summarize the insights from the literature and available evidence on the two dimensions described earlier. The final section concludes the review.

Setting Priorities to Inform Assessment of Care Homes' Readiness to Participate in Healthcare Innovation: A Systematic Mapping Review and Consensus Process.

Organisational context is known to impact on the successful implementation of healthcare initiatives in care homes. We undertook a systematic mapping review to examine whether researchers have considered organisational context when planning, conducting, and reporting the implementation of healthcare innovations in care homes. Review data were mapped against the Alberta Context Tool, which was designed to assess organizational context in care homes. The review included 56 papers. No studies involved a systematic assessment of organisational context prior to implementation, but many provided post hoc explanations of how organisational context affected the success or otherwise of the innovation. Factors identified to explain a lack of success included poor senior staff engagement, non-alignment with care home culture, limited staff capacity to engage, and low levels of participation from health professionals such as general practitioners (GPs). Thirty-five stakeholders participated in workshops to discuss findings and develop questions for assessing care home readiness to participate in innovations. Ten questions were developed to initiate conversations between innovators and care home staff to support research and implementation. This framework can help researchers initiate discussions about health-related innovation. This will begin to address the gap between implementation theory and practice.

A China - Vietnam collaboration for public health care: a preliminary study

BackgroundVietnam has achieved significant results in terms of improving population health and sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, several public health problems remain such as high mortality deriving from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). As part of their long-standing relationship, Vietnam and China have collaborated in various health fields. The objective of this study was to examine the current situation of public health cooperation between Vietnam and China and suggest ways to deepen future co-operations.MethodsBetween March and May 2018, we conducted 14 in-depth interviews with key informants from Vietnam and China. The inclusion criteria in this study were as follows: 1) researchers who worked at research institutes or universities and were engaged in health cooperation research, 2) officers who were from government agencies or international organizations (IOs) and had been involved in, or were familiar with the health cooperation projects between China and Vietnam. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim, and then analyzed to identify current cooperation strategies and cooperation fields, as well as to provide suggestions for future collaborations.ResultsCurrent health cooperation mechanisms between China and Vietnam include bilateral and multilateral cooperation such as ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and ROK), ASEAN Plus One (China), the Greater Mekong sub-region, and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation. This health cooperation can be summarized in terms of health security, health development, and health-related innovation. The health cooperation priorities outlined by our informants consisted of unimplemented SDGs such as NCD problems and the public health system. A proposal for future health collaboration was to establish a triangular cooperation between China, IOs/non-government organizations (NGOs) and Vietnam.ConclusionsThe existing cooperation between China and Vietnam in bilateral and multilateral levels has provided a good foundation for a deeper and more extensive future partnership. Key areas of future cooperation would be to achieve SDGs and solve NCD related problems, which can be accelerated through favorable cooperation and reliable partnerships. A triangular cooperation between China, Vietnam, and IOs/NGOs was considered as a suitable future mechanism.

Diversity, novelty and satisfactoriness in health innovation

How innovations emerge and what path they follow is a central topic in evolutionary economics. This paper contributes to this stream of literature by presenting empirical evidence on health innovation patterns in a small middle-income country. Moreover, it has theoretical implications in terms of understanding the selection process of health-related innovations. A qualitative processual analysis of five case studies in the Uruguayan health innovation system was conducted between 2007 and 2017. The paper analyzes how the diversity degree of the specific domain where innovation emerges determines two basic evaluation criteria of innovation fitness: novelty and satisfactoriness. Moreover, the research shows how market and non-market institutional mechanisms define these criteria. Based on this theoretical framework, results show how different types of innovations have been developed with different degrees of novelty, according to their satisfactoriness for the specific requirements of the Uruguayan health innovation system.

Innovating for ‘active ageing’ in a public–private innovation partnership: Creating doable problems and alignment

By focusing on different constructions of the elderly and how these definitions are aligned within a Danish public–private innovation partnership called No Age, the article examines how various understandings of ‘the elderly’, ‘active ageing’ and ‘health’ clash and entangle in innovation work. The ambition of No Age is to create welfare technologies for elderly people. The authors were invited to contribute ethnographic insights to the partnership. We argue that the No Age's innovation process creates doable problems by co-producing technological solutions, their users and the health issues the products are designed to address. Furthermore, we argue that the specific constellation and alignment of actors in such a partnership define how and what kinds of users are constituted, as the target groups and success criteria for the development of welfare technologies are shaped throughout the innovation process rather than decided at the beginning. This has implications for the role of ethnographers as providers of user-insights in health-related innovation projects.

Patent Execution Strategies

Patents are considered to be enticements for innovation and thereby expected to benefit humanity by making available to the society. Pharmaceutical patents cover products that take a very long time to develop and the patent life is actually closer to 11 or 12 years since federal law requires a company to test its product for safety and efficacy and secure regulatory approval before marketing. Developing countries experience shows that such incentives focus on the market demand rather than the need of the society. This is more obvious in the health related innovation. Therefore, a strong IP protections safeguard should be held against counterfeit, illegitimate and fake pharmaceutical products.

Fostering Innovation in Medicine and Health Care

There is a real need for innovation in health care delivery, as well as in medicine, to address related challenges of access, quality, and affordability through new and creative approaches. Health care environments must foster innovation, not just allowing it but actively encouraging it to happen anywhere and at every level in health care and medicine-from the laboratory, to the operating room, bedside, and clinics. This paper reviews the essential elements and environmental factors important for health-related innovation to flourish in academic health systems.The authors maintain that innovation must be actively cultivated by teaching it, creating "space" for and supporting it, and providing opportunities for its implementation. The authors seek to show the importance of these three fundamental principles and how they can be implemented, highlighting examples from across the country and their own institution.Health innovation cannot be relegated to a second-class status by the urgency of day-to-day operations, patient care, and the requirements of traditional research. Innovation needs to be elevated to a committed endeavor and become a part of an organization's culture, particularly in academic health centers.

Intersection of identities. Food, role, and the African–American pastor

African–American pastors can foster health-related innovations as gatekeepers and advocates within their churches. Personal experiences with food and health likely influence their support of such programs. Identities or meanings attached to societal roles have been shown to motivate individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. Understanding role and eating identities of African–American pastors may have important implications for participation in faith-based health promotion programs. This study aimed to describe the eating and pastoral identities of African–American pastors, explore intersections between these identities, and highlight implications for nutrition programs. In-depth interviews with 30 African–American pastors were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using theory-guided and grounded-theory approaches. Pastors described affinity across one or more dimensions including healthy, picky, meat, and over-eater identities. In describing themselves as pastors, the dimensions pastor’s heart, teacher, motivator, and role model emerged. Pastors who described themselves as healthy eaters were more likely to see themselves as role models. Pastors with healthier eating identities and more complex pastoral identities described greater support for health programming while unhealthy, picky, and over-eaters did not. These findings provide guidance for understanding eating and role identities among pastors and should be considered when designing and implementing faith-based programs.

Firm boundary decisions: the market for health-related R&D services with an empirical case study for Germany

Despite frequent observations of blurring firm boundaries and broad agreement about the relevance of health-related innovation, little is known about R&D outsourcing in the health care sector and the corresponding market for health-related R&D services. To shed light on this issue, we first point to the strong links between the health care system and the R&D sector and, referring to governance and competence perspectives, suggest an extended classification of R&D services based on organizational flexibility and the transferability of complex knowledge. We then apply a descriptive empirical lens by exploring the market’s size and structure. This is accomplished in terms of an exploratory case study of the German market for health-related R&D. We quantify the sector-specific performers and financiers of health-related R&D in 2001 and 2003, indicating that health-related R&D services denote an important element in the health innovation system that accounts for about 16% of total health-related R&D. Furthermore, we document that the value of health-related R&D services sourced from abroad exceeds that of “exported” services by a factor of three in 2001, and by a factor of five in 2003. Our findings suggest that health-related R&D is increasingly outsourced to foreign service providers at the expense of the domestic business enterprise sector. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of these arguments.

Technological innovation and inequality in health

The effect of education on health has been increasing over the past several decades. We hypothesize that this increasing disparity is related to health-related technical progress: more-educated people are the first to take advantage of technological advances that improve health. We test this hypothesis using data on disease-specific mortality rates for 1980 and 1990, and cancer registry data for 1973-1993. We estimate education gradients in mortality using compulsory schooling as a measure of education. We then relate these gradients to two measures of health-related innovation: the number of active drug ingredients available to treat a disease, and the rate of change in mortality from that disease. We find that more-educated individuals have a greater survival advantage in those diseases for which there has been more health-related technological progress.

Learning from primary care in developing countries

Health-related innovations in developing countries have had worldwide relevance. More specifically the author agrees with Johnstone and McConnan that the health service in Britain can learn may lessons from health services in poorer countries. However the push for community-based rather than hospital-based services has been difficult both to initiate and to sustain. The health services in most developing countries are a mix of traditional-indigenous private-commercial at many levels and government provided. The author notes that most British people who have worked recently in developing countries have done so with charitable nongovernment organizations which have the greatest opportunity for innovation and flexibility. A few of Johnstone and McConnans principles are illustrated with specific examples. Even pediatric hospital practice in Britain is catching up with that in developing countries.