Innovation

Healthcare workers are key to the success of innovation, as the people delivering care are often the ones who identify problems and can bring about change.

“Healthcare innovation is critical when thinking about revolutionising a healthcare system”, explains Professor Jane Burns, Innovation Leader.

See more from Professor Jane Burns in this video. 

Aim

Our aim is to:

• Inspire frontline healthcare workers to use new ways to address healthcare problems, and to enable them to build innovation skills.
• Connect healthcare workers with established and emerging innovation experts from universities, industry and start-ups.

Healthcare can be a complex system and current approaches to change don’t always lead to improvement. Together, we need to find new ways of addressing the needs of patients, carers, and healthcare workers to ensure that we continue to deliver the best care.

Partnerships

Safer Care Innovation works closely with partners within healthcare and industry to address healthcare challenges as a collective.

Institute for Healthcare Innovation

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement is a crucial partner and works with the innovation team to deliver the Health Innovators Program (HIP). This program was launched in 2023 and is a bespoke, first of its kind in Victoria, program designed to build capability and address local clinical problems with an innovative lens. Clinicians from health services across the state who are experiencing a challenge in their clinical work come together to collaborate, co-design and identify innovative solutions.  The program is based on the IHI Innovation System 90 Day Cycle designed to ensure engagement, fast paced delivery and an outcome after 90 days. In addition we work closely with IHI to deliver further Innovation Capability uplift for the entire sector, see the webinars below.

Australian MedTech Manufacturing Centre

The Australian MedTech Manufacturing Centre – in partnership with Safer Care Victoria – led the Health-Led Manufacturing Innovation Program (HMIP) pilot. The program created new collaborations between clinical and non-clinical staff, researchers, MedTech innovators and manufacturers to identify solutions to health challenges. 

The Australian MedTech Manufacturing Centre and Safer Care Victoria engaged 4 partner organisations, who delivered targeted programs.

Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery 

Medtech Challenge Workshops: Strengthening collaboration and connections between clinicians and industry to improve the likelihood that new products meet the needs of the medical system. 

Swinburne University – MedTech Vic Hub

LivingAT Health Innovation Challenge (Swinburne):

• identifying and design products that can be manufactured in Victoria to assist people with diverse ability to live independently and support their health outcomes with local innovations.
• exploring how the  built environment might prevent or actively support people experiencing delirium. For more information, read the Delirium Built Environment white paper. 

Bendigo Health and University of Melbourne 

Regional Innovation Acceleration Program: identifying and supporting early-stage venture creation that addresses unmet medical needs.

Monash University – Monash Institute for Medical Engineering

MedTech Commercialisation Advancement Program: bringing together regulatory and reimbursement specialists, health economists and MedTech manufacturers to accelerate the commercialisation of eligible projects.

Learning and development

Foundations of Medical Technology Innovation

Our capability program, Foundations of Medical Technology Innovation, was developed in partnership with Monash Institute for Medical Engineering (MIME). It’s for anyone with an interest in healthcare innovation, regardless of your background, role, or level of experience. For example, healthcare workers, frontline clinicians, consumers, students or entrepreneurs.

Foundations of Medical Technology Innovation provides an overview of innovation methods using the Stanford BioDesign Process. It includes:

• structured guidance and resources to support you to become a healthcare innovator
• new ways to deliver healthcare or improve the healthcare system
• how you can identify, generate, test, trial and put in place innovative solutions to persistent healthcare problems
• guidance on which entrepreneurial pathways are available to support you to commercialise an innovative solution or product.

Foundations of Medical Technology Innovation program is free.

A certificate of completion will be issued once all modules of the curriculum have been completed.

We hope you enjoy our foundational capability program and appreciate your support.

Go to Foundations of Medical Technology Innovation

Note: To help us improve future programs, please complete the feedback sections in each of the modules.

Webinars

Watch our Webinars below to learn how innovation and a innovation culture can improve healthcare service, delivery and safety.

Connect with us

Let us know how we can support you on your innovation journey, or if you have an idea or innovation, please email innovation@safercare.vic.gov.au