Julio 2011
Let the market talk Market evidence versus traditional consulting. A fast and effective way for new technoogies and new companies Most health technologies are funded with national or EU funds. Most experts agree that “more than 80% fail”, ”, according to Dr. Manuel Franco Marín, responsible of Psychatry Service
Business model co-design session att the Madrid Scientific Park.
at the Assiting Complex in Zamora. 56% of technologies do not reach their financial goals “because they do not involve customers and
It is possible to o doublé identified revenue streams. s users in the design and innovation process”, says Dr. Ángel Gil, responsible of the Biomechanical Unit of the National Paraplegic
Hospital in Toledo. They lack also a sustainable business model. Doubling the identified sources of income What would you say if somebody would ask you to double the identified revenue streams, multiply by four distribution channels and by six the perceived value propositions? This is what happens once you involve final users, customers and relevant stakeholders into the design of your business or service model. With these guidelines ValueCreation has developed a new methodology on the basis of Osterwalder’s canvas canva that has been successfully tested at prestigious research centers and companies such as Instituto Itaca, Citilab and IVF spain. As a result, the approach has been introduce to several European CIP and AAL projects with Tecnalia or I2Cat for instance. Reduce duce consulting costs, make start ups feasible Besides of the described results, this approach reduces significantly consulting costs and the time it takes to develop a business plan; a plan that will be far more accurate by the way. The model is not only useful for new technologies, but for startup companies. In this sense, ValueCreation has been asked to use the methodology at Technology Transfer Offices, venture capital companies and start up incubation institutions.
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Technology and decentralization of nursing homes: a major tendency in care giving The technological change at nursing homes is one of the major trends in care giving during the coming five years. It opens opportunities to technology and construction companies. Public and private nursing homes face the double challenge of answering to the growing demand due to the demographic change, while preventing costs to rise. Technology is a a key partner in this process, since it reduces costs via process automation, while allowing an increase in resources for better quality of life and personal assistance to elders and families. Digital literacy, key to technological acceptance Today, very few nursing homes and care giving groups are technologically advanced. And those that at have gone the way find that user acceptance is very low. The prestigious Nurnberg based NIK says that “it is not possible to cover elders with sensors and treat them like children and at the same time expect that they accept technology. Here is where we find that the work done at SeniorLab to build up groups of seniors that manage technology by their own self interest makes sense.” At Cetiex –a living lab specialized in testing technology for elders- and at Intress – anon profit organization specialized in care giving- the current nursing home model is seen as outdated from an economic point of view and because “nobody wants it”. The tendency is towards micro nursing homes or networks of monitored flats.
“Here technology is unavoidable”, says Cetiex. A growing market for technology and construction An anonymous source form a major Spanish insurance company ensures that “if technological invesment is not
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undertaken it will be impossible to attend the growing demand and nursing homes will close, since public ic actors pay less and less and later and later.” For this reason, big technology companies such as TT Systems, Tecnalia or Atos see in nursing homes a growing market “but only if social meaning for elder and families is granted”, says a manager, worried by acceptance. Nurenberg NIK sees also opportunities for construction: “In Germany it is already a niche. We do not understand why Spanish construction companies do not exploit it, given their current crisis.”
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Service innovation with customers: customers key competence ompetence to lead future markets “Why should our customers pay for reactive services?” This is the question European lawyers ask themselves. At least those participating at the ProActive Management and ProActive Business Law project, co-ordinated in Spain by Amparo Camacho and Enrique García from the La Florida University. Martaa, expert at Bankia (the newly created bank resulting from the merger of seen
Foto: Vestforbrændingen
savings banks in Spain), says the lawyers are right: “Why do we charge fees to our customers for products and services
they don’t really need? We get lots of information from fidelity tools and CRM. We know for instance, that when they become 35 they tend to marry, that they have already invested in a certain kind of funds and that they are ready for an insurance. But this is not what they want. If they wanted it, we would not spend so much money trying to convince them.” Scandinavian companies, pioneers at customer centric innovation For Marta it is urgent to innovate in the design of services with the clients: “giving them what they really need, as it is done in Scandinavian countries.” Indeed, Scandinavian Airlines, for instance, implements periodical workshops with customers in order to improve the service. In
Denmark, the food industry employer employers association develops new products and services involving companies and children schools (www.food www.food-lab.nu). In Denmark too, recycling
“If customerrs wanted what we sell theem we wouldn’t spend so s much money trying to convince c them.”
companies such as Vestforbrændingen work together with their users in order to develop devel more usable containers. For them the profitability of customer driven innovation is beyond any question: “the “ success of containers designed with customers was so inmense, that nowadays they are the country wide standard”, says Brit SchøtNielsen, from Vestforbrændingen.
Living Lab Summer School Between August 29th and September Sept mber 2nd, the Second Edition of the Living ab Summer School will take place at Citilab (Cornellá, (Cornellá, Barcelona, Spain). This meeting is becoming an important forum for the professionals and researchers of the sector that use living labs in their daily work. ValueCreation will be present with a Workshop on sustainability and business models and also with a tutorial on SeniorLab as a model for innovation and ageing.
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