Disruptive vs sustainable innovation in diagnostics

When I think of disruptive innovation, what comes to my mind is a creation – which despite being relatively insignificant at its inception – eventually becomes popular enough to create an entirely new market by displacing the status quo and its alliances. The main reasons for this could be low cost, higher accessi­bility, precision and quality, or a host of other reasons.

To me, a great example of disruptive innovation, though not from the healthcare space, is the real-world example of Netflix, streaming media, and OTT (over the top) devices, which are continuing to disrupt the entertainment industry. Wearables have already started playing a role in the diagnosing of disease. A real-life story that is indeed testament to the extensive potential of wearables is about an apparently healthy basketball player, who was alerted by his Apple watch as having an arrythmia and was later diagnosed as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by his cardiologist. Gene sequencing also helped diagnose his sibling with the same and helped them with timely management.

Without getting into details – as there is much available if you do a simple search around Disruptions in Diagnostics wherein microfluidics, POCT and wearables are listed amongst others – it clearly appears that the future will be a marriage of world-class diagnostics and personalization, merged with IT solutions. Many also say that this is the beginning of a lab-in-a-chip concept, wherein it is likely that the largest lab might no longer exist in any brick-and-mortar structure! Having said that, I anticipate this market being very competitive and a flurry of innovations is likely. For every disruptive innovation that makes the light of the day, there are thousands which fall by the wayside. As Einstein said, I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

Do companies need to be scared of disruption? I would think, no. As long as the management has its ear to the ground, is willing to invest in technology and research, and has a set of motivated people not daunted by change.

Is bringing in disruptive innovation easy? I would again say, no – because the innovation will eventually need to pass policy and regulations, and may even call for adjustment to new possibly diverse business models, with education and awareness-creation playing a significant role.

Laboratories have faced massive disruptions to their normal work schedule owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby daily workloads radically changed to accommodate a sudden spurt in COVID RT-PCR testing. Almost overnight, laboratories had to gear up to meet this new normal, while doing what worked best for their lab. Needs varied – from purchasing more equipment, to beefing up manpower to accommodate added test numbers, as well as to counter the effects of staff who fell ill or were in quarantine. There was also a concomitant need to lay down new SOPs for staff and patient safety during a pandemic, providing line listing to the government, and many other such. The positive takeaway is that most laboratories were able to cope with this sudden disruption and managed to deliver remarkably well. Were there some disruptive innovations that happened in laboratories due to this disruption? Certainly. And that leads me to bring up sustainable innovation.

Sustainable innovation often results from ongoing market-driven forces and customer expectation. It is progressive in the way it evolves and is more likely to fit into existing business models. A simple, well-accepted model of sustainable innovation is the creation of drive-through centers for COVID PCR testing, established to ensure quick scale-up, patient and employee safety, and ease of access for patients. These have stood the test of time and continue to ably serve the community and labs today, despite the current ebb of COVID numbers (which, one can only hope is here to stay).

Our diagnostic equipment partners also work tirelessly in the sustainable innovation space, by continuously bringing enhanced and connected platforms to the market that help us deliver more. Artificial Intelligence also finds its place in the paradigm of sustainable innovation.

Curiously enough, while everyone wants to be a part of disruptive innovation (seeing that it is an exciting and powerful place to be), what will possibly really stand the test of time is sustainable innovation – because it grows with you and you through it.