So you want to launch a product into the Health Sector?
At Advivo Innovation & Commercialisation Partners, we are using leading edge data science tools in conjunction with our disruption processes to provide clients a new depth of understanding on the market for their new idea.
To steal Douglas Adams’ words, ‘Health care is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is’. The global health industry has an annual spend of over $6 Trillion, half of that spent in the US, the other half spent across the rest of the world. In terms of new activity in the sector via VC and PE deals, the first quarter of 2021 saw an additional $31.6Billion globally in equity funding with global digital health equity funding jumping by 9% QoQ. Activity grew significantly across the use of Artificial Intelligence, Telehealth, Medical devices, Mental Health, Women’s Health, Omics (range of Biology related disciplines such as genomics) and general Health IT.
What is interesting is that the increasing cost structure of health care has a negative labour productivity. Innovation is therefore key to driving better patient outcomes as well as managing the cost structures across all areas of primary, secondary, allied health and government. Outside the core health services we are seeing a lot of innovation across the ‘Health and Wellness’ and preventative space, not only by the large players (with corresponding large innovation budgets) but also through individuals who have identified a better way of doing things.
I recently attended, remotely of course, a US symposium where a number of innovations were presented and judged. Happy to say that one of the winners was a gentleman who has spent the last few years rebuilding and testing prosthetics for his own hand and is now seeking to make the technology available to other medical devices companies. Not sure I’m up for 3D printing my own body parts as yet, but a market exists.
A quick search of the web will give you details of how the Health sector is segmented into at least 80 distinct areas of service and product delivery. To bring your idea to life, you are going to need to know the market you are entering. Generic data research organisations can provide a high-level overview of the size of a market, general trends and details on the leading companies in those markets. The challenge with innovation, and to improve your probability of success, is that you really need to know all of the companies playing in your space as well as understanding which specific segments you should compete in.
A Global Perspective
Often, we deal with clients who are convinced that no-one is playing in the market that they believe suits their idea. The challenge with Health is that it is global and therefore you need to understand the market at a global level. We are working with a range of tools that take a Global, Big Data perspective so that we can determine, on a global basis, which organisations play across the market.
This approach goes well beyond the traditional desktop market research tools and is able to map markets by identifying all the companies involved and across each of the segments within that particular market. The power this gives us is clear: a complete landscape of the market you’re looking to enter. We are able to identify how crowded a market is and who the actual players are in that market. We spot the ‘crowds’, and then suggest a targeted entry approach by identifying any white space opportunities in the market or alternatively any adjacent market opportunities. Understanding who is competing in your potential market drives better and more relevant competitor analysis and serves to identify potential collaboration or licensing targets.
The market mapping assessment provides a very good overview of the competitive landscape but can also be used to map the landscape of the potential consumer market or to identify options in monetising your idea to existing players.
Professional Advice
There is a considerable amount of strategy and validation work needed to determine what tools and searches will derive real value in determining the commercial viability of an idea. The quality of the data is heavily dependent on the structure of the search terms used in Big Data analytics. To support any research findings and to gain a higher probability of commercial success, how will you proceed? The questions we begin with as commercialisation experts include:
- Who the ultimate consumer is and what market segments they occupy?;
- What is the job to be done and what is the value proposition delivered through the proposed solution?;
- Who is the competition?;
- What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Minimum Viable Audience (MVA) required to enter and further test the market? [This is particularly relevant in various Health sectors given the regulatory framework that needs to be addressed across different jurisdictions];
- How will we test the market to determine the the value of the idea including any functional and commercial aspects;
- How do we determine the requirements and ability to scale?;
- What is the financial plan required for product development and go to market?;
- How will you protect the IP in your idea with a view to setting barriers to entry into the market?;
- What will your team look like, what skills and resources are needed?;
- The team required – skills and resources
Advivo Innovation & Commercialisation Partners have a diagnostic tool to help you assess the commercial viability of any new idea and test assumptions to guide the pathway to market and how you can leverage the knowledge and experience of our innovation and commercialisation advisors. The outcomes are used to guide use of data science tools for further market validation and analysis.
Please register below and we will contact you to arrange a 30 min complimentary video session to complete the diagnosis and provide thoughts around your idea’s probability of success.
