VCU da Vinci Center leader discusses COVID-19 health care innovations
As part of its ongoing series of virtual conversations about business-related impacts of COVID-19, the VCU School of Business on April 21, welcomed Garret Westlake for a 45-minute dialogue to address the topic of “COVID-19 Health Care Innovations.”
Westlake is executive director of the da Vinci Center, a collaboration of VCU’s schools of Business and the Arts, and colleges of Engineering and Humanities and Sciences that advances student innovation and entrepreneurship through cross-disciplinary collaboration.
For this dialogue, Grier and Westlake were joined by VCU donors, c-suite executives, business leaders and VCU alumni.
How the da Vinci Center previously supported VCU Health System
Prior to the pandemic, the da Vinci Center was already collaborating with the VCU Health System and had achieved incredible outcomes in developing new techniques to improve narcotic waste management and designing new medical devices.
Last fall, master’s students in the product innovation program conducted a two-week sprint to develop new products to protect fragile neonatal patients who arrive at the VCU Medical Center via helicopter. These products can help ensure a safe and efficient process and transition from helicopter to VCU’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Why innovation is more challenging in the health care industry
If innovation isn’t what you do all day, it’s helpful to understand that it’s essentially a three-step process:
- Creativity: it starts with creativity. But having new ideas and finding better ways of doing things is the easy part.
- Innovation: The next stage is innovation or the implementation of new ideas. Implementing new ideas in health care is really challenging because it involves a lot of procedures, standards and time-consuming safety tests. This can inhibit innovation.
- Entrepreneurship: The final stage is entrepreneurship, essentially having the business sense to sustain those new ideas and make sure they persist into the future.
It’s a constant fight to keep new innovative ideas alive and going forward.
Read more in the full article from VCU Business >>
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