For Innovation, Pharma Follows a Particular Path

by Erin Sullivan

I was struck by Cutter Fellow Rob Austin's comment in a recent Innovation Forum in terms of the rather beleaguered industry I know best, pharmaceuticals (see "Learning and Unlearning in an Innovation Economy," Vol. 1, No. 1): "Management processes that maximize the value of emergent features of your products and services are very different from those that assure that you efficiently achieve predetermined outcomes." This statement is particularly poignant in terms of pharmaceutical industry innovation because, by its very nature, drug development depends on an unpredictable and uncertain discovery and development process. The industry, however, would desperately like to see product innovations conform to a development process that is predictable, reliable, and replicable. Perhaps, instead of striving for efficiently achieving predetermined outcomes, the industry should embrace its current way of operating/innovating, which allows for, and even depends on, emergent features.

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For Innovation, Pharma Follows a Particular PathThu May 15 08:12:42 CDT 2008