Clinical innovation
14 May 2015
Emperor's New Clothes or the Way Forward? The opportunities and challenges of clinical innovation.
Around 50 people attended this Innovation Network event to hear a range of viewpoints on the opportunities and challenges of clinical innovation.
Delegates, from business, the health service and academia, heard a series of presentations from:
- Abigail Harris, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board
- Jared Torkington, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
- Graham Ewart, Direct Healthcare Services Limited
- Professor Ian Weeks, Cardiff University.
Abigail spoke of embedding new ways of thinking, of having a faculty of quality improvement and of using technology in a different kind of way - such as robotic surgery.
Jared, describing how The Welsh Institute for Minimal Access Therapy (WIMAT) was set up to train in new techniques in surgery, spoke of the need to connect with the "free-thinkers" in order to come up with new ideas - such as Ultravision for smoke-free surgery.
Businessman Graham Ewart drew attention to higher expectations and a need to demonstrate evidence that innovations create real value. With a US$240bn global medical devices market, Graham asked whether the current process of red tape stifled innovation and whether facilitators might be necessary.
Finally, Ian noted the disjoint between research in academia and development in industry and the need to align these so that the translational pathway becomes more contracted, explaining how Cardiff University's new Clinical Innovation Hub will provide support for exploitable innovations & industry linkage.
A lively Q&A session followed, chaired by Professor Keith Harding, Cardiff University, with the discussion following on over supper and networking.