Innovation

Having recently started a company and being in charge of a research lab makes it paramount that I create a climate that fosters innovation. As the lab matures (we started five years ago with a crazy idea which is now in Phase 2 clinical trials), it is important for us to not rest on our achievements but rejuvenate our thinking and keep on creating new ideas that will advance the field and hopefully result in new treatments. How can I do this?
As I was think about this question, I cam across the book Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. While not a new book, I find it read incredibly refreshing and inspiring. I highly recommend it!

Here are some thoughts / insights I derived from my reading of it:

• Incentives must align with innovation as a priority. This means to me that we should not only celebrate papers and grants but also crazy new pilot experiments and getting new techniques to work!
• Leadership should not only focus on solving problems and underperforming units but also focus on new opportunities arising from ongoing endeavors. This means to me that I will allocate leadership meeting uniquely to discussing the things that go better than we expected!
• Listening carefully to what the customer needs - plenty of opportunities for innovation. For us this means to interact more with clinicians to understand what the unmet clinical needs are, talk more with grant agencies to understand what there needs are, and finally make sure our research is of value to the community.

Your thoughts? I cordially invite you to leave a comment below or reach me on twitter for a discussion.