The formula for innovation appears to be simple. To begin, locate a point of friction. Then, make it vanish.
If only it was that easy. Imaginative thinking is required while trying to reinvent solutions to alleviate frequent pain points and bridge gaps. It also takes a desire to put in the time, effort, and money to reinvent. These are often in limited supply, especially in today’s fast-paced economy. Fortunately, a large number of entrepreneurs and organisations want to make a difference. And the consequences of their work continue to reshape business and society in evolutionary ways.
Consider the use of drones. Over 850,000 drones have been registered with the FAA as of today. Everything from meteorology and mapping to disaster aid and deliveries is done using them. Drone-based shipments are expected to increase tenfold between 2019 and 2023, according to Gartner. Drone technology looked restricted to military and civilian purposes only a decade or two ago. So, what went wrong? The drone’s evident capabilities were not enough for innovators. Drones have so become commonplace among many individuals, businesses, and governments.
Other breakthroughs are just as fascinating, revolutionary, and, in some cases, life-changing. The three companies listed below are disrupting their respective industries and may provide inspiration for your next business move.
Healthcare Innovation: Improved patient data accessibility
Research and development is an everyday practice in medicine and life sciences. However, it can be an excruciatingly slow process to bring something like a new pharmaceutical to market. Typically, it takes about $1.4 billion and up to 20 years before a drug is introduced to the public. In the meantime, physicians and patients must wait.
So what’s part of the holdup? Access to clean, annotated data can play a major part. Without the ability to utilize and understand data rapidly, research and development professionals can’t accelerate their decision-making. Accordingly, they’re unable to forge ahead because they’re bogged down by dated data parsing and processing.
Thomas Swalla, CEO of Dotmatics, is one of the innovators who set out to solve this issue. The ARR cloud software company’s digital, AI-fueled platform has been engineered to reduce scientists’ data integration time by 70% and cut documentation time in half. Dotmatics is tapping into the life sciences research and development market and is working with well-known companies like Novartis, as well as top research universities like MIT. And according to their client René van den Bersselaar, Global Head IT and CIO at Debiopharm, their partnership is getting new therapies to patients faster.
Business leaders have to be able to trust their data’s validity. Additionally, they must be able to collect and store it in ways that make it simple and convenient to utilize. Putting a data management plan in place helps limit data inaccuracies and inefficiencies. Data management can serve as the foundation for internally driven innovations. It can even be a brand differentiator since most companies haven’t mastered the data governance process.
If you’re interested in managing your data, start by understanding the data you gather. Once you have a better handle on the data flowing into your organization, you can design how it’s cleaned, kept, and used. Remember that error-free data can be the answer to eliminating time-consuming manual duties.
Construction Innovation: A “no silos” approach to architectural design and construction.
Designing and creating spaces have always been separate activities in the realm of architecture and construction. A designer concentrates on the overall structure and aesthetics. The blueprint is then given to a builder who will make the concept a reality. However, all stakeholders, including the client, find the movement between these two components to be clumsy.
Amanda Gunawan found the lack of a link between architectural design and construction to be unnatural and superfluous. Her idea was to use OWIU, the design business where she is a partner, to bring all of the parts together. Building projects don’t only pass from hand to hand there. The voyage is charted and overseen by OWIU.
This isn’t unlike what happens in other industries, such as full-service financial advising. Concierge financial advisors often handle all the wealth management needs for high net-worth clientele. This creates a complete end-to-end experience. Bringing the same principle to the architectural projects world could be groundbreaking.
What’s a key takeaway of this innovation? It’s a reminder to identify and remove siloed processes. Whether silos run vertically or horizontally, they can become obstacles to healthy collaboration and productivity. By fostering open information exchanges across teams, executives and managers can avoid silo pitfalls like change resistance and duplication of efforts.
Think about the silos in your business. Are they adding or taking value from your operations? Work with your team to break down silos by pinpointing and eradicating their sources.
Education Innovation: Fast-tracked education opportunities are helping overcome labor shortages.
According to U.S. News and World Reports, more than one million more nurses will be needed by the end of 2022. Nurses, unfortunately, are in great demand but in short supply. Countless nurses, like other healthcare workers, have chosen to leave the profession. This has resulted in a labour shortage in the healthcare industry.
Carrus, a health-related education company, is aggressively collaborating with Walgreens and CVS to expedite various medical career paths. Take, for example, the technician position. Many people aspire to be technicians, but they don’t want to wait to get started. The Internet’s Influence training, virtual certification programs, and other learning vehicles help to connect job seekers with healthcare employers.
The sooner medical personnel can become comfortable with the skills they need to succeed, the more quickly they can move into field positions. Accelerated education requires oversight and preparation, to be sure. Nevertheless, it could be the perfect answer to upskill workers and expeditiously place them in medical jobs.
Currently, more than half of all small company leaders say they’re having difficulty filling open roles. Could they possibly attract more talent by setting up educational pathways for people who lack skills but have potential? By investing in the creation of a proprietary curriculum, organizations could position their brands as places to train, work, and evolve.
Even small businesses can offer terrific training for the right job candidates. Don’t worry: You won’t have to break the bank to create everything from the ground up. Consider leveraging a cloud-based edtech training platform to become the framework for an outstanding employee training experience.
Innovation will never stop happening because new pain points will always pop up. Just don’t forget that there’s nothing wrong with using big innovations to inform and refresh your everyday practices.
