Our understanding of life and living organisms has rapidly evolved over the past decade(s). We have reached a point where Life Sciences and Technology have become intertwined, creating a complex and fascinating innovation space.
The current pandemic revealed that we are in need of breakthrough innovations. The mRNA vaccines and digitalization in healthcare are key enablers of the resilience of the healthcare system, and there is still a lot of ground to gain. This blog series covers trends, challenges and opportunities that can have paradigm shifting impact.
Let’s step back
Let’s first observe and review the obvious. Why have these innovations become a remarkably successful? The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has undoubtedly initiated a shift in the stance of many stakeholders and policy makers. The sudden increase in perceived added value and their desirability, enabled swift technology adoption.
In order to realize the enormous potential of breakthrough Life Science technologies, we should look at the other side of the coin. What prevents upcoming technologies from achieving similar success, and what can you do to improve this?
Many key innovative technologies are still waiting to be adopted
Despite the recent success of aforementioned technologies, there are so many key innovative technologies waiting to be adopted. This is due to the incredibly complex ecosystem involved in bringing a product to the market. Being aware and actively participating on the stakeholders, decision and policy makers is essential, early on and throughout the new product development roadmap in Life Sciences.
Entrepreneurs, however, reason in opportunities as the core of any challenge. Can you identify, rank and address your stakeholders better, or faster, than your competitors?
Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary
Even though these may sound like buzz-words, and to some extend they might be, they are instrumental to the Life Science domain. The interplay of multiple disciplines is essential to facilitate the newest discoveries and innovations.
In the Life Science industry, evolving new technologies enable new discoveries and vice versa. New discoveries require new technologies, with a fine line between research and therapeutic or diagnostic applications. Developing new technologies on this interface is challenging. What is your intended use, now, and in the future? Can you swiftly adopt that change in regulatory requirements?
On the other hand, the Life Science industry becomes more and more similar to the fast moving consumer goods industry. This implicates the need to differentiate your offering from existing players, or competitors – to focus on your key performance factors. Focus on the customer journey is the low-hanging fruit.
Customer journey is the low-hanging fruit
Addressing these performance factors effectively, creating a competitive advantage over your competitors requires smart integrated development. Investigating living organisms, limbs, organs, organoids, cells, organelles, condensates, proteins and molecules by measuring the physiological, morphological through to (bio)-chemical and physical properties make a multidisciplinary approach instrumental. Balancing the constraints of the involved disciplines. Understanding this inter play allows for smart solutions, shortcuts.
These shortcuts result in competitive advantages – unique differentiators. A growing concern, and opportunity, is sustainability: What can we do to reduce the carbon footprint, reduce excessive plastic and single-use waste?
Digital, Data and Advanced analytics
Healthcare is slow to adopt digital technologies, partly due to this complex ecosystem. This is not strange, many procedures are based around discrete sampling. Where a clinician gains insight in a patient’s condition at one or multiple separate point(s) in time, digital technologies, like wearables, now offer continuous monitoring. We are creating a complete new magnitude of data, and are currently unraveling its clinical potential.
Digital technologies now offer continuous monitoring and live insights from virtually anywhere
Due to technological advancements in sensors and connectivity we can collect, process and transmit high quality data using small, cheap and reliable sensors. The gathered data can give live insights virtually anywhere. This data can be collected in-vitro, ex-vivo and in-vivo, in the lab, clinic or at home and can be monitored by researchers, clinicians, relatives or patients themselves. What unrevealed information can you unravel? Can you improve information quality, or its interpretability?
Let’s imagine
What do you envision as your new breakthrough service, procedure or product? What is your first step towards a successful product launch? In this series, we’ll aim to address opportunities in adjacent domains. Finding where X is greater than the sum of its parts is what innovation in life sciences is really all about.
Any questions on this post? Submit them below and we’ll get back to you soon!
