Ten years systematizing innovation in Parc Taulí

Ten years systematizing innovation in Parc Taulí 1080 534 Gloria Palomar Frias

Ten years ago, Parc Taulí began the implementation of an innovation model with the aim of generating the cultural change necessary for the modernization of the institution, the advancement of problem solving efficiently, and the transfer of knowledge to the society.

Many things have gone through these years to make Parc Taulí the institution that it is today, and which makes us value this bet as successful. Changes are never easy and always come with them the resistance to do things differently, but they are not impossible, even in large and complex organizations such as hospitals.

A change in business culture is only possible if there is a joint participation of professionals and the leadership of the governing bodies. It is they who must set the strategies of the institutions and facilitate their execution. Thus, on July 2, 2008, the Governing Council of the CCSPT approved the internal rules of innovation management and promoted the launch of the Innovation Unit. At that moment began the hard and stimulating task of fostering a culture of innovation among the more than 3500 employees of the organization. When we ask ourselves if we have arrived at all, the answer is no, but the institution has changed; in fact, We have all changed the way we think and face challenges.

In the last satisfaction survey, the Innovation Unit was known by 47% of the workforce, which considering that not everyone can or should innovate in an organization and that change must be progressive and cannot generate constant revolution that makes the model itself unproductive, is a success. 47% is a good percentage of people who have already been touched by innovation and that they will act as ambassadors of her among the companions.

We've been fostering innovative culture for 10 years with courses, creativity sessions, informational sessions, idea contests, and scholarships, and now we begin to reap the fruits: the creation of spin offs, the marketing of products transferred to companies, and the improvement of organizational care processes. All this, together with the critical mass of innovative professionals generated, will serve to push us further innovative spirit that emerges from our institution.

We believe that these are the results of the consolidation of a cross-cutting innovation model, in which the interests of environmental companies and the institution's strategy converge with the unmet needs detected by professionals. This has allowed us to become one of the Catalan hospitals with the most innovation public procurement projects funded by the Catalan Health Service with European funds for regional development.

This path we have not done alone, with us have collaborated an important list of entities, companies, and innovation experts from different disciplines to whom we want to convey our gratitude. It is the basis of the open and collaborative innovation and Parc Taulí has ​​always been and is ready to receive, give and share experiences so that together they can move forward.

However, unlike companies, where innovation is used to gain competitiveness and attract more customers, public entities in general, and hospitals in particular, innovate for patients, in order to treat them better and more efficiently, improving their quality and life expectancy. Innovation in hospitals often does not translate into direct economic performance, but often it saves resources and draws talent. That is why innovation, in the case of public companies, should be recognized and rewarded by governments in allocating budgets, contributions, or negotiate program contracts to extend it and better understand its need.

This road would not have been possible without them people who have worked directly or indirectly in the Innovation Unit, generally very young people who have been excited about the project and have made their contributions to make it possible. For the Parc Taulí Innovation Unit, there have been professionals who are currently holding relevant positions in other companies or who have created their own, as could not be otherwise, taking into account the promotion of entrepreneurship linked to our innovation model.

La professionalization of innovation management this is another key aspect because it has high complexity and precise specific professional profiles with multidisciplinary training, health enthusiasts, restless, creative and with great work capacity. On one occasion, working with a group of industrial design engineers at UPC, they said that they visualized the future of healthcare organizations with departments where the participation of industrial designers, biomedical engineers and others would naturally be part of the workforce of hospitals. We like to share this idea because we know how important it is and the high value that institutions bring to the joint work of disciplines which, a priori, may seem so distant.

The professionals have undoubtedly been one of the important piecesWithout them, there would be no innovation. That is why we want to thank especially those professionals who trusted and revealed the first innovative ideas registered in the Unit, we learned together in some cases with the incredible "trial-and-error" method. These professionals have continued to come up with ideas over the years, and others have been added. The most difficult test as an organization has been not to disappoint these professionals and acknowledge their contribution, giving them the support they need to carry out their ideas and not penalizing their failures, living as the systematization of improvement; without fail it is difficult to learn. Surely we have not always succeeded, but what we can say today is that we have a systematic revelation of ideas from professionals and that professionals are receptive to proposals driven by management or other groups or institutions.

Parc Taulí celebrates this 10th anniversary with enthusiasm and optimism to continue growing and adding value with the important challenge of systematizing process innovation, as has been done with technological innovation and with the public purchase of innovation. The transformation time for an organization is long and you cannot expect short-term results, but it must be long-term planning. We have been 10 years and we look forward to celebrating the 20th having reached the benchmark institution for which we are working together.

Our sincere gratitude, from here, to all the professionals and collaborators who have made possible that today we are talking about this great project.

Gloria Palomar Frias

I am an economist with more than 20 years of experience in the health sector. For the last 16 years I have been the Managing Director of the Fundació Parc Taulí and the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute since its inception in 2015. I have experience in research management and in the promotion and management of technological innovation and its value.

All stories by: Gloria Palomar Frias

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