Five Learnings at MIT-Harvard Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp 2018
Recently I had the opportunity of attending Healthcare Innovations Bootcamp conducted by MIT and Harvard medical school. It was an honour to be with 88 passionate people from 32 countries. Personally, it turned out to be 88 stories from around the world to be inspired and humbled. Julio from Australia is reinventing the intubation device (after 70 years!) to make it simpler & effective anywhere (including space!). Brett from the USA is helping people alleviate anxiety with innovative uses of art, design & technology (do check the cool website). Zuby is legally blind & with ‘Think&Zoom’ is creating a world, where visual impairment no longer steals dreams or kills careers. Michael from Germany leveraging AI to improve healthcare & surgeries. Kunal from India is leveraging technology to enhance patient engagement & care management. Fotios from Sweden passionate about mental health is democratising psychiatric care. Consuelo natively from Peru is empowering nurses around the world. Sangeetha is working towards reducing inequities in maternity and infant care, while Akshay has created a medical grade pacifier to help malnourished infants. HuiHong from Singapore is working on making physiotherapy radically accessible for all. Khaled Bhai from Bangladesh is leveraging technology to improve access to quality healthcare while reducing the cost. Hung-Cheng Lai from Taiwan, a pioneer in robotic surgery is also working on faster detection of cancer. Few of the many stories about passionate people in different stages of the journey as innovators and entrepreneurs.
The motto of MIT says “Mens et Manus” Latin for “Mind & hand” while the Harvard seal proclaims “VERITAS” Latin for “Truth”. Without a doubt, the boot camp journey of climbing the 24 steps of disciplined entrepreneurship turned out to be putting our “mind & hand to seek the truth”. As we started drinking from the fire hose of learning, it became the most intense, exhilarating and empowering week of our lives.
My personal top five learnings at the Bootcamps were:
1. Problem: “Define it as if a 5-year old can understand.”
Once we started climbing the 24 steps of disciplined entrepreneurship, the strongest emphasis by our coach was to define the problem so well that a 5-year-old can understand. In a world which instantly jumps to solutions, this was a refreshing approach to creativity, set the tone for the course of boot camp. My takeaway:
“Polish the problem so well that the solutions shine through”
2. Solutions: Ears close to patients/users & Eyes on ‘Unresolved Contradiction.’
It’s tempting to jump to the solution, but how to find a solution that will work in the real world. One of the approaches was to look for “Unresolved contradiction” > that improving one parameter impacts negatively on another. Discussing this with fellow boot campers, many have knowingly or unknowingly experienced this! More on it here > https://www.innovation-triz.com/papers/separation.html . I am still processing it how it can help practically in my context ( do suggest!).
As our focus of innovation was on health care where each patient/user is unique, it was a revelation that Patients/users have developed 1 million+ medical innovation which works!
“Next time I will look at patients/users through this new lens of opportunity.”
3. Opportunity: “Diffusion of Innovations & Beta test your pricing.”
As much as you test your product, don’t hesitate to beta test your pricing. Contrary to the common perception of cost and competition as a guideline for pricing, it was a revelation that keeping value and customer as the north star for pricing ensures long-term sustainability. With a focus on healthcare, where patient led innovations far exceeds the industry-led changes:
“The real opportunity lies in the diffusion of the product to masses rather than investing more resources in development.”
4. The story of perseverance: “Facts tell, Story sells”
As all the teams moved from ideation to solution and were preparing to go to market, one thing that stood out during the elevator pitch was the critical skill of telling a story. The teams that stood out were able to deliver a compelling story based on facts. I felt this was the most underrated skill set for an entrepreneur, and I look forward to refining.
While listening stories of fellow boot campers, I realised:
“under the hood of passion lies the engine of perseverance and it almost feels like the other side of the coin of innovation.”
5. People: “Find Your Tribe”
Towards the tail end of boot camp, walking down the grand stairs of Harvard medical school over to the well manicured lush green lawn, a realisation dawned on us like the dew on the grass, that this boot camp was less about innovation, lesser so about healthcare and more about “People”. The real process of entrepreneurship is very un-fun, what makes it worthwhile is:
“the people, the people we will serve, the people we will work with, the people who will guide us & the people who will look up to us for guidance. And why in this journey its very important to go out and Find your tribe.”
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Talking about tribe , I would like to thank Deepu Sebin and team for all the support in creating a organisation culture of learning at DailyRounds . More on this here.
Thanks to the organisers at MIT & Harvard Medical school Andrew Ngui, Erdin Beshimov, Vimala Palaniswamy, Thomas Bazerghi, Paola Abello, Leah Riley, Eric Fillinger, Erin Farren , Danielle Lebedevitch, Caroline Barnaby, Olivia Koziol for designing and executing in fun-filled way and inviting an impressive range of speakers and faculty from across the industry.
A deep sense of gratitude to our coaches Vanessa, Jeff, Andrew Radin, Ken , Chris & Nicky who toiled through the night to light our path in the right direction.
Thanks to the alumni Siddhartha , Jad Fayad , Deborah, Jakub, Osama & Lauren who flew from around the world to enlighten us what’s next!
The presence of Bill Aulet was felt throughout the Bootcamp and more so by his absence. :-(
While writing down this, a thought was lingering in the back of my head (don’t ask why), will conclude this article by quoting it.
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy” — Rabindranath Tagore
