Being an innovator is never easy. But tackling the needs of patients and health care providers in underserved communities – in the United States and around the world – is especially difficult. The idiosyncrasies of the health care sector, the contextual barriers found in resource-constrained environments, and the already difficult-to-implement innovation process make entrepreneurship in this sector time-consuming, expensive, and risky.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored and exacerbated these challenges. From India, to Africa, to parts of the US, lower-resource communities were deprived of adequate access to essential health technologies including diagnostic testing, oxygen therapy, and vaccinations. Reimagining global health has never been more important.
To support the efforts of entrepreneurs from around the world to improve the health of the world’s poor in this critical moment in time, we are highlighting the work of Stanford’s Global Health Consortium for Innovation, Design, Evaluation, and Action (C-IDEA). Funded by NIH grant 1 RC4 TW008781-01, researchers at Stanford spent ~18 months capturing lessons in global health innovation. The resulting case studies, organized into six interrelated categories focus on the successful design and commercialization of healthcare innovation products and services.
Identifying and Validating Needs
After watching a colleague struggle with the care of his mother when she was affected by fecal incontinence, the Consure Medical team began investigating this…
Incubators can prevent infant deaths from hypothermia, shorten hospital stays, and reduce the rate of neonatal complications that can lead to lifelong illness and disability.
When a team at Stanford University accepted a challenge to design a low-cost prosthetic knee joint that could be produced locally for use in the…
Understanding Market/Stakeholder Dynamics
To help address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality in the developing world, researchers at the University of Georgetown’s Institute for Reproductive Health…
Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW), a for-profit spinout from the Diagnostics Development Unit at the University of Cambridge, is focused on manufacturing and commercializing…
d.light design is a for-profit social enterprise whose purpose is to create new freedoms for customers without access to reliable power so they can enjoy…
Life Force Kiosks is a nonprofit that aims to reduce preventable waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea to save lives in the most vulnerable…
Trevor Field, a retired British businessman and outdoor advertising executive, was deeply moved when he observed women and girls in rural villages of South Africa…
Getting to a Market-Ready Product or Service
In resource constrained settings, bubble CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) is emerging as a more affordable treatment option for children with acute respiratory infections.
When team members at D-Rev — a U.S.
Consure Medical is committed to developing a solution that solves the problems inherent in existing fecal incontinence treatments yet is simple enough for a motivated…
The Rice 360° Institute for Global Health Technologies seeks to design and implement technologies that improve health and reduce poverty.
When 3rd Stone Design, a product design, strategy, and development consultancy, licensed the DoseRight Syringe Clip out of the Rice University Beyond Traditional Borders (BTB)…
The East Meets West Foundation (EMW) is an international development agency with the mission to transform the health, education, and communities of disadvantaged people in…
Globally, pneumonia kills more children than any other illness. In developed countries, pneumonia and other acute respiratory conditions are treated via mechanical ventilators.
KickStart was founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon to design tools that would enable Africa’s poor to launch and sustain profitable businesses.
The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on the prospect of creating a better life for the world’s poor.
To help address the burden of childhood asthma in developing countries, Respira Design created an asthma spacer that was produced from a single sheet of…
Sales, Marketing, and Distribution
To help address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality in the developing world, researchers at the University of Georgetown’s Institute for Reproductive Health…
d.light design is a for-profit social enterprise whose purpose is to create new freedoms for customers without access to reliable power so they can enjoy…
After observing too many unnecessary injuries and deaths caused by surgeries that were interrupted or canceled due to the unavailability of anesthesia, Dr.
Life Force Kiosks is a nonprofit that aims to reduce preventable waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea to save lives in the most vulnerable…
KickStart was founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon to design tools that would enable Africa’s poor to launch and sustain profitable businesses.
Maternova was founded in 2009 as a mission-driven for-profit organization with two main objectives: (1) to provide an online knowledge platform that would allow health…
In late 2006, the PATH Safe Water Project received a $17 million grant from the global development unit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In late 2006, the PATH Safe Water Project received a $17 million grant from the global development unit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Phoenix Medical Systems was founded to manufacture an incubator designed specifically to address the needs of low-resource healthcare providers in India.
Phoenix Medical Systems was founded to manufacture an incubator designed specifically to address the needs of low-resource healthcare providers in India.
Population Services International (PSI) was founded in 1970 as a nonprofit organization focused on improving reproductive health in developing countries using commercial marketing strategies.
After reading a newspaper article that predicted the spread of HIV through medical syringes, Marc Koska committed himself to addressing the threat of unsafe injections.
After reading a newspaper article that predicted the spread of HIV through medical syringes, Marc Koska committed himself to addressing the threat of unsafe injections.
Defining a Viable Business Model
Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
When team members at D-Rev — a U.S.
To help address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality in the developing world, researchers at the University of Georgetown’s Institute for Reproductive Health…
While attending Stanford, the Embrace team developed an idea for an innovative infant warmer to help low-birth-weight infants.
After observing too many unnecessary injuries and deaths caused by surgeries that were interrupted or canceled due to the unavailability of anesthesia, Dr.
The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) was founded by immunologist Steve Reed in 1993 as a nonprofit global health research center dedicated to applying advances…
While enrolled in a course focused on entrepreneurship, a team of Stanford students set out to create a platform for developing-world healthcare providers that would…
When a team at Stanford University accepted a challenge to design a low-cost prosthetic knee joint that could be produced locally for use in the…
Having observed too many development projects that appeared successful at first, but then failed as soon as the development agency moved on, Martin Fisher and…
The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on the prospect of creating a better life for the world’s poor.
In late 2006, the PATH Safe Water Project received a $17 million grant from the global development unit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Population Services International (PSI) was founded in 1970 as a nonprofit organization focused on improving reproductive health in developing countries using commercial marketing strategies.
Securing Adequate Funding
Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW), a for-profit spinout from the Diagnostics Development Unit at the University of Cambridge, is focused on manufacturing and commercializing…
d.light design is a for-profit social enterprise whose purpose is to create new freedoms for customers without access to reliable power so they can enjoy…
KickStart was founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon to design tools that would enable Africa’s poor to launch and sustain profitable businesses.
Vestergaard Frandsen (VF) is a for-profit company that operates under a humanitarian entrepreneurship business model.
The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on the prospect of creating a better life for the world’s poor.