User-driven Service Innovation in Health Care

The user-driven innovation approach has really gained a lot of attention in recent years. Many companies are starting to realize that innovation can arise not only from the research and development department but also from the interaction with partners, suppliers and end-users. Consequently, numerous firms in varying industries are now engaging users to play an active part in the development of new or improved products or services.

User-driven innovation is about mapping and understanding the user's existing and non-recognized needs, then use the knowledge as the basis for the development of new products, processes, organizational forms or service concepts. The user-driven innovation approach is seeking to gain greater focus around what the true needs are of target users and how can they best be met, or even exceeded, through the product or service being developed. Large enterprises in automotive and ICT, which are in the forefront of the global innovation arena, are characterized precisely by the fact that they are skilled in revealing unspoken user needs. These companies have an innovation process that often is much more demand driven than technology driven. Although manufacturing industries have many established methodologies we have to develop and pursue methods which are relevant also for service sectors in order to devise service concepts that satisfy customers unmet needs.

Transferred to the health sector means that we have to include government, hospitals, doctors, specialists and other professionals in health care, patients and their families. This diverse group of stakeholders is an important factor in the health sector with their own demands and various agendas regarding the implementation of innovation projects. Thus, methods for user-driven innovation in other industries, can not be adopted directly to the health sector. Testing, evaluation and adaptation of methods and tools for the development of new services are therefore sought after.

To harness this new wave of invention and creativity companies should put end user's needs in focus, which forms the basis for the development of ideas, conceptualization and final solutions. Also, the approach should address the user's context explicitly in order to have an impact. Finally, an integral concept is stronger, more accurate and is perceived as more meaningful to end users if all facets of this concept are developed based on insights and needs from the users' reality.

Exploring Service Models for Technology Induced Innovations in Elderly Care

I know I haven't written for a while, so here comes an update after my visit to UC Berkeley.

In addition to writing mandatory assignments I have been developing the problem statement for my PhD project – with related hypotheses. For the time being, the problem statement concerns the lack of knowledge and conceptualization related to services in business model constructs. Much of the business model literature still applies the product logic where the user is considered as a passive receiver of value. Consequently, the inclusion of the user’s infrastructure in the value creation logic of business models is seemingly in need of rigorous development. I have therefore spent time on conceptualizing a model where the business model of the provider and user is integrated as part of a service system. By considering two business models, one is compelled to consider the infrastructure (skills, processes and network) of the user as a critical component of a service development endeavor.

In order to test out my hypotheses, technology induced service innovations in elderly care will be the empirical focus of attention. The emerging resource challenges related to the care of elderly as “baby boomers” head for retirement are enormous and indeed call for collaborative efforts. In order to provide sound innovations which might aid care workers and concurrently increase care quality a deep understanding of user needs is required.

A pilot project is now being organized to collect data in Østfold, Norway. The idea is to identify the most important problems in private homes where elderly need help. The focus is set on understanding problem parameters such as: importance, frequency and frustration related to different ‘jobs to be done’. By applying a framework where we are able to understand the infrastructure of the user we might be able to identify accompanying technologies and business models more precisely in the context of Norwegian elderly care.

The Need for Service Innovation in Home Care Services

The need for service innovation will most likely be very apparent in home care services as the number of elderly will increase sharply over the next decades in many OECD countries. In Norway for instance, there will be twice as many people over 80 years by 2035. Moreover, the aging population will probably have increased need for health and care services, while access to labour most likely will decline. The way that care services are designed today, the need for assistance may eventually exceed the labour which is available. To address the challenges above – care technologies, such as smart house technology, body sensors, tracking technology and robot technology, could prove to be essential to provide a dignified care in the future.

In addition to the technological advances, new service models must be developed that can incorporate new and emerging technologies to provide more efficient home care services in the future. Customer interactions must be adjusted with appropriate adjustments in infrastructure of the value models. Consequently, this research aims to investigate the following research question:

How can new service models improve service provision in home care with the utilization of new and emerging technologies?