Advancing the vision for Hong Kong to become a health and medical innovation hub requires harnessing the power of people to innovate.
Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology that emphasizes empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing to create innovative solutions. It has emerged as a key method for innovation, a way of thinking about problems that transform how we tackle complex challenges, cultivate creativity, and engineer breakthrough solutions. In the business world, design-driven organisations that integrate design thinking into their corporate strategy have proven to outperform market peers.
Health systems could benefit greatly from this systematic approach as an essential skill that focuses on solving the needs of the people who use healthcare services. Design thinking has been employed to develop a wide range of innovative solutions in medicine, including new medical devices and treatments, improved healthcare delivery, and new approaches to medical education.
Drawing from case studies and specific examples of how this methodology has been used in medicine, we explore the concepts that drive design thinking, the implications of using this approach to foster interdisciplinary interaction, and how co-creation between multiple stakeholders can unlock new understanding and business opportunities.
We also highlight the conditions conducive to design thinking, what factors might strain the process, and the cultural dimensions critical for sustainable success.
