What do we mean by Innovation?
Innovation is all the rage in almost all disciplines (from the tech field to what we refer to as global health) but frequently is not well understood. Innovation is not the same as invention. The light bulb was an invention while a light bulb with 3 different levels of brightness was an innovation. We appreciate the definition of invention as stated at ideascale.com;
"Innovation is defined as the process of bringing about new ideas, methods, products, services, or solutions that have a significant positive impact and value. It involves transforming creative concepts into tangible outcomes that improve efficiency, and effectiveness, or address unmet needs."
The challenges we face when trying to bring health, healing and wholeness to the neediest are complex and require innovation. Innovation that happens because of effective collaboration. At the Institute for Global Health at WCIU we offer the following process to assist in identifying potential innovations to complex global health challenges.
Peer Consultations:
Feeling stuck? As a leader you may face an adaptive challenge - a problem with no clear choices, known solutions, or technical fixes. Our team cares about challenges like yours. To help you take your next step forward we will bring together an interdisciplinary team of peer consultants who will listen carefully and offer possible interpretations and reframing of the challenge. Our hope is to empower you with a list of small action steps from which you can choose 3-4 to do in the next six weeks in order to get unstuck.