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Assessing the future of innovation

9 November 2005

Healthcare companies need to think beyond the patient when developing products, the head of Johnson and Johnson's corporate office of science and technology, Dr Ted Torphy, told a Monash forum recently.

From left: Deputy vice-chancellor (research) Professor Edwina Cornish; managing director and chair, Johnson and Johnson research, Dr Susan Pond; and Dr Ted Torphy.

Dr Torphy, speaking at the Innovation Exchange Network event hosted by Monash Commercial, said there were enormous challenges ahead for healthcare systems worldwide.

"Most healthcare companies have been product-oriented," he said. "But there are two things I think are changing that, or at least changing our mindset in terms of what innovation really means, going into the next 10 to 15 years.

"Firstly, we need to think beyond the patient to the payer, the practitioner and the regulatory authorities, and we need to think about those stakeholders from the outset of product development.

"Secondly, medical breakthroughs and innovations will increasingly be in the convergent technology domain. This is the case in everything from devices that contain a drug to cell therapy and artificial or inartificial organ engineering."

Dr Torphy said new health technologies could involve aerospace or IT, and more people were needed who could relate what was occurring in one field with what might be needed in another.

"Convergent technologies increasingly need to be created by multidisciplinary teams," he said.

"It has to be recognised that convergent technology solutions, such as those that combine wireless, device and pharmaceutical technology, are so complex that individual teams from any one of those industries alone cannot get the job done.

"But there has to be a change in the culture because people need to be willing to share the information."

Monash Commercial holds regular forums to raise issues relevant to the university community.