Development of a Reproducible Framework and Pathway to Support Innovation in an Academic Surgical Department

Background: Our department comprises faculty, trainees, advanced practice providers (APPs), and research and administrative staff. While ingenuity exists in all of these groups, most lack the skills necessary for effective innovation. Institutional barriers may also exist, preventing progress beyond the initial idea. We established a novel and reproducible framework and pathway to facilitate device and technological innovation in our academic surgical department. Patients and Methods: We developed a pathway and an education program to support department members with novel ideas for innovation. Our department’s structure was redefined to include innovation, and all employees were invited to participate. We developed relationships with subject-matter experts (SMEs); industries; and university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and business programs to collaborate on device and technology innovations. Results: Using our framework, we founded three start-up companies, began developing eight devices and three apps, and filed two patents with additional intellectual property (IP) protection to follow. In total, 21 departmental employees, including APPs, an administrator, research staff, a fellow, and faculty members, engaged in innovation-related activities. To foster healthcare innovation, we also created a novel university-based, cross-industry innovation curriculum, and identified funding sources for prototyping and development. Conclusions: We established a framework to facilitate innovation in our department. We developed innovation expertise, leveraged external industry collaborations, and increased engagement from the faculty and staff. We also successfully used external resources, resulting in a scalable innovation pathway for developing needs-driven clinical solutions.