Innovation is the Key to the Future of Medicine

Toby CosgroveCourtesy of The Cleveland ClinicBill Gates once said that if business in the 1980s was about quality and in the 1990s it was about reengineering, then in the 2000s it will be about velocity. The rate of change is brutal. Obsolescence doesn't creep anymore, it leaps. The situation is best expressed in the Latin phrase absolutum obsoletum: If it works, it's out of date. In terms of shelf life, any technology at the peak of its adoption curve has passed its expiration date. You need to

Written byToby Cosgrove

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Courtesy of The Cleveland Clinic

Bill Gates once said that if business in the 1980s was about quality and in the 1990s it was about reengineering, then in the 2000s it will be about velocity. The rate of change is brutal. Obsolescence doesn't creep anymore, it leaps. The situation is best expressed in the Latin phrase absolutum obsoletum: If it works, it's out of date. In terms of shelf life, any technology at the peak of its adoption curve has passed its expiration date. You need to foster innovation and continually relaunch proprietary technology, or prepare for diminishing returns.

What precisely does "innovation" mean in the context of health care? It's not just good ideas, as the world is full of ideas that go nowhere. An innovation is an idea that has been put to work. Having an idea doesn't make you an innovator any more than having a brush ...

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