Public health care innovation lab tackling the barriers of public sector innovation

Abstract

His latest research interests relate to relationship dynamics in public-private innovation policies and citizen co-creation in innovative public procurement. He has been especially keen in joining the views from industrial marketing and purchasing within public management discussion. Kaisu Jansson (M.Sc. in Econ. & Bus.Adm.

Unfolding innovation lab services in public hospitals: a hospital FabLab case study

“…All of these outcomes are shaping what we could define as a hospital innovation culture. The positive feedback on the open communication surrounding a FabLab service is a key-element to make innovation projects thrive at the hospital [18].…”

“…Accordingly, hospitals as public institutions are not exempt from organizational barriers to innovation. In fact, there is a call from recent studies for addressing issues hindering innovation in the hospital context such as complexity, risk aversion, organizational flexibility, lack of competence (for innovation), bureaucracy and external cooperation [18], [19], [25]. In this sense, Dias and Escoval [26] explain that "the organizational innovations that promote communication and interaction across departments and other organizations are key factors to accelerate innovation in the hospital sector".…”

“…Torvinen and Jansson [18] present innovation labs as an opportunity to tackle the barriers of public sector innovation by adding interaction in complex organizations, enhancing mutual learning across hospital units but also with potential external partners and allowing a smoother journey when bureaucracy can slow down promising projects. Such labs have the ability to make innovation prospects more tangible, which motivates frontline organizations to take an active role in the innovation process.…”

“…Although public hospitals are not usually fast-pace innovative environments given their organizational and regulatory complexity [16], they have been witnessing the emergence of the lab phenomenon as collaborative tools in action to overcome innovation barriers [17], [19]. However, despite the positive impact that collaborative innovation environments such as FabLabs might have to a hospital's innovation capacity and culture [18], establishing methodological and practical guidelines on how FabLabs orchestrate innovation projects contingent on the hospital context needs to be further explored. How are user-driven design projects carried out in a hospital FabLab?…”

Same same, but different…? The emergence of Public Sector Innovation Labs in theory and practice

“…The difference between an internal or external focus of innovation is also mirrored in the most commonly used descriptions of Public Sector Innovation Labs, such as 'islands or bastions of experimentation' (Torvinen & Jansson, 2022;Whicher & Crick, 2019) and 'next generation of labs that focus on wicked problems' (Cole, 2021). The first description focuses on a dedicated place for innovation within institutions and the latter is often a space outside institutions that focuses more on societal aims.…”