Launching an Innovation Challenge
Activities: Strategic leadership, program management, building partnerships, marketing and promotion
Why should the opportunity to develop innovative ideas be limited to a select few? In 2016 I helped to establish the Connected Health Innovation Challenge, which invited employees across the Partners HealthCare ecosystem (and it’s a big ecosystem) to submit their ideas for addressing a current concern in preventive care or chronic disease management. We provided a platform and a process to encourage technology-enabled solutions that facilitate and/or enhance the delivery of care beyond clinical settings. And, for the winner, we provided a team with the skills and talent to make the idea a reality.
In its first year of existence, over 50 team applications were received from across the Partners system, including teams from Brigham and Women’s, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean, Newton Wellesley, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Center. This represented over 200 unique individuals from more than 50 departments within Partners.
By providing a matchmaking service between ideas, the skills to make it happen, and connecting to broader networks to keep it going, this innovation challenge met its goals of not only supporting Partners employees to share their ideas, but also showcasing the power of connecting teams to push the boundaries of what we can accomplish.
Sample CHIC project: embodie: A mobile app to improve pain management
The winner of the first year’s challenge came to us with a desire to improve pain management for individuals living with cancer, as well as increase the clarity of communication of pain between patient and provider. Over the course of six months the team conducted field research and went through a comprehensive design process resulting in a prototype application.
My colleague Scott put together a more in depth look at work completed, which you can view here. He also spearheaded the creation of a companion summary book, which you can download here.