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SearchBy Stephen MacNamara, MS, Associate Director, Innovations Development, Cleveland Clinic
As the healthcare landscape evolves at a breakneck pace, innovative partnerships are becoming increasingly crucial to driving transformative solutions. At Cleveland Clinic Innovations, we are exploring new avenues for collaboration - and one promising frontier lies across the Atlantic, in Ireland.
Earlier this year, our team reconnected with Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government agency tasked with supporting Irish companies as they expand globally. This relationship has opened the door to exciting possibilities, as we work to identify synergies and foster mutually beneficial partnerships.
Over the years, Ireland has become a major player in the healthcare, manufacturing, and technology spaces. It is exciting to see the number of start-up companies that are now active in the healthcare space and witness this industry grow in Ireland. The potential to help those companies through collaboration with Cleveland Clinic Innovations, is important to me, as Ireland is my home, and it is where I received my education and began my career in healthcare and life sciences.
This personal connection has fueled my involvement in several recent initiatives bridging the transatlantic divide. This spring, I participated in the U.S. Healthcare and MedTech Masterclass 2024 organized by Enterprise Ireland, providing an overview of Cleveland Clinic's innovation ecosystem and engaging with the Irish startup community. The positive response from that event led to an invitation to chair a panel discussion at Enterprise Ireland's U.S. Healthcare Seminar in Dublin this past August.
Joining me on the panel were representatives from other leading U.S. healthcare systems, including OSF HealthCare, Harvard Medical School, and Washington University School of Medicine. As we delved into the challenges and best practices surrounding healthcare innovation, several key themes emerged:
Securing Buy-in is Crucial
One of the most consistent takeaways was the importance of securing buy-in from key decision-makers. Having support from people who have decision-making authority is important, and helps drive the processes and collaborations forward in a smooth manner.
Without the backing of clinicians, administrators, executives, and other stakeholders, even the most promising innovations can struggle to gain traction. Fostering that internal alignment is a critical first step.
Validating the Problem is Half the Battle
Another shared insight was the need to thoroughly validate the problem an innovation aims to solve. Identifying the problem, validating it, and confirming that the innovation solves the problem is just as crucial as understanding how to implement it in a manner that appeals to the target users.
External validation is crucial, as innovators' personal biases can sometimes cloud their judgment. Getting impartial feedback, early and often, is essential for ensuring a solution is truly addressing a genuine market need.
Innovation is a Two-Way Street
Innovation is not a one-way street, flowing solely from large academic or healthcare systems to external partners. Innovation goes both ways and is often driven by small companies that can leverage their ability to adapt quickly. While our team at Cleveland Clinic Innovations is primarily focused on developing assets conceived at Cleveland Clinic by licensing them to commercial partners or bringing them into the market via startups, we are also open to collaboration through strategic partnerships with innovative companies that share our mission.
By keeping an open mind and actively seeking external opportunities to collaborate, we will unlock new avenues for mutual growth, learning, and innovation. Whether it's adopting proven solutions from agile Irish startups, providing a testing ground for new products under development, or getting our assets into the right hands to reach a wider market, fostering this two-way exchange is a key priority.
Building Lasting Partnerships
As we move forward, our focus is on identifying the "right" partnerships - ones that create genuine, long-term value for all involved. By carefully vetting potential collaborations and aligning on shared goals, we aim to establish relationships that transcend one-off projects, evolving into lasting, mutually beneficial alliances.
The healthcare industry's rapid evolution demands new ways of thinking and working. By embracing the spirit of global collaboration, Cleveland Clinic Innovations and our partners are positioning ourselves to lead the way into a more globally connected, innovative future.
