Medical Technology's Source of Innovation

Abstract

This article presents research based on a case study of Bern University Hospital and the Greater Bern Area that analyses the hospital's influence on innovation in the regional medical device industry. The study draws upon the concept of sectoral innovation systems enlarged with a space-oriented model of agents' innovation-related behaviour. Its main data stem from semi-structured interviews with representatives from regional companies and the hospital. The findings confirm the systemic character of innovation in medical technology and the role of university hospitals as the main functional source of medical device innovation. At the inception of the medical device industry, innovations were implemented in a regional setting, but with the maturation of the industry, this setting has yielded to an almost global setting for innovation. This international setting became prevalent largely due to the marketing considerations of the industry, showing that from an industrial management point of view, product innovation and the diffusion of innovation are heavily interlinked activities. The article concludes that the hospital's relevant influence at a regional level lies not in the present but in the past, when timely innovative impulses from physicians enabled this regional industry's successful participation in the emerging medical device sector.

Acknowledgements

The author expresses his gratitude to Prof. B. Asheim and Prof. F. Malerba for reviewing earlier versions of this article presented at the AAG 2008 in Boston and the DIME-RAL2 WP 2.2 Conference 2008 on Demand, Innovation, and Industrial Dynamics in Milan, respectively. He also thanks B. Fuhrer for reviewing the final version of this article. The article's original research was partly funded by Bern University Hospital (UB-07/083).