How much revenue are healthcare organizations devoting to their innovation efforts? What are the most important steps to creating a culture of innovation? Healthcare CEOs from more than 25 countries answered these questions and more as part of PwC's "Breakthrough Innovation and Growth" report.
The report includes insight from board-level executives — all responsible for overseeing innovation within their company — from more than 1,750 companies across 30 sectors. Healthcare providers reflected 5 percent of the sectors represented.
The responses below were stratified to reflect "healthcare" respondents and do not include survey findings from executives in the pharmaceutical, insurance or medical technology sectors. Responses are not limited to U.S. respondents.
1. How important is innovation to the success of your company now and in five years?
Now
• Not at all important — 1 percent
• Unimportant — 5 percent
• [Average] — 8 percent
• Quite important — 51 percent
• Very important — 34 percent
In five years
• Not at all important — 0 percent
• Unimportant — 4 percent
• [Average] — 13 percent
• Quite important — 29 percent
• Very important —54 percent
2. Which of the following statements best describes your company's appetite for innovation?
• We are true innovation pioneers — 18 percent
• We are leaders but not leading — 45 percent
• We are followers — 37 percent
• We are innovation laggards — 0 percent
3. What percentage of your overall revenue is spent on innovation?
• 0 percent of revenue — 7 percent
• 1-5 percent of revenue — 29 percent
• 6-10 percent of revenue — 37 percent
• 11-15 percent of revenue — 19 percent
• 16-20 percent of revenue — 5 percent
• 21-25 percent of revenue — 0 percent
• 26-30 percent of revenue — 0 percent
• 31+ percent of revenue — 2 percent
4. Which of the following best describes the way your company manages its innovation process?
• Informally. Projects arise out of market needs or good ideas. — 39 percent
• In a structured way. There is alignment from concept. — 27 percent
• Formally. All innovation activities are coordinated. — 34 percent
5. How important are each of the following to creating and fostering an innovative culture? (Percentages reflect the portion of healthcare executives who ranked each item as "very important.")
• Offering employees an opportunity to lead or participate in high-profile innovation initiatives — 42 percent
• Senior executives participating in innovation projects — 36 percent
• Fostering an environment where failure and risk are reasonably tolerated — 29 percent
• Recognizing and rewarding innovative initiatives — 26 percent
• Having well-defined and accepted processes for innovation — 25 percent
• Setting up internal communities of interest — 19 percent
• Giving innovation functions equal status to other functional areas — 18 percent
6. Top three approaches healthcare executives think will lead to innovations that drive the most growth for their companies:
• Open innovation — 40 percent
• Individual freedom to conduct innovation projects — 28 percent
• Design thinking — 14 percent
More Articles on Innovation:
How Ideas Become Innovations: Roundtable With Healthcare Innovation Leaders From UCLA, Ohio State
Disruptive Innovation — A Harmful Cliché in Healthcare?
5 Ways Innovation Could Save Your Hospital