Report Outlines How Medtech Companies Can Approach Innovation to Remain Competitive
PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI) provides research and analysis on trends impacting various industries including healthcare. According to the institute’s latest research report, medical technology companies may be losing their competitive edge in the new outcome-based health econom. The new report, Medtech companies prepare for an innovation makeover, suggests innovation is lacking, and includes a web-based interactive innovation scorecard to assess medtech companies based on leading innovation practices. The report findings show only 14 percent of medtech executives say they formally manage innovation activities, and just 17 percent believe their companies are innovation pioneers. The report outlines steps on how medtech companies can address their approach to innovation to remain competitive.
“Historically, medtech innovation has relied on incremental improvement,” said Christopher Wasden, managing director and global healthcare innovation leader, PwC. “But ‘innovation’ needs redefining for an environment that rewards value – measured in affordable patient outcomes and customer satisfaction – over volume. True innovators learn from failure – fast, frequent, frugal failure. Medtech leaders need to change their business models, their corporate DNA, to embrace lean innovation beyond their core operations.”
Key findings from the report include:
- The value of a device is no longer solely in the product itself but in a company’s ability to help customers solve broader problems.
- New competitors are staking their claim – at least 18 companies have entered the medtech space and are driving innovation at the pace of technology.
- New integrated services and business models that address clinician and consumer needs are becoming more important.
- Medtech executives expect a higher level of innovation over the next three years but lack formal processes to achieve their goals for new services and business models.
- Medtech companies have been slower to apply new social, mobile, analytic, and cloud (SMAC) technologies than other industries.
- Medtech companies are looking to open innovation as a key approach to drive future growth.