I was invited to write a contribution to the Innovation Blog of the Region of Southern Denmark and Southern Denmark Health Innovation. I was invited to become a member of the Innovation Forum of this innovative region. I decided to go for my favourite topic – addressing implementation! Please see the English version below:
Susie A. Ruff:
When working with health innovation, leaders must consider how to organise around innovation and create the necessary structure and governance to succeed.
When we talk about innovation in my world, implementation is the final and crucial phase that ensures the solution or change becomes embedded and creates added value in the healthcare system. I always tell my students at CBS International Business School, MSc in Innovation in Healthcare: “There is no successful innovation without implementation.”
✅ There are many reasons why implementation fails:
🔹 Lack of a needs analysis involving key stakeholders
🔹 Insufficient support from staff
🔹 Inadequate patient involvement
🔹 Poor coordination between departments
🔹 Resistance to change
✅ Implementation requires leadership and attention
Central aspects include the leadership and planning of the implementation process. Implementation brings transformation and is almost always accompanied by digital elements. If leadership does not set the agenda for strategy and execution of the implementation – including staff involvement – things can go wrong, take too long, and strain budgets. Communication around implementation is also vital.
✅ I also believe it is important to consider:
Is the organisation ready to implement? Is there preparedness for change? Can it ensure sustainable and long-term implementation?
Another important dimension is what we are implementing. When we talk about implementation in healthcare, we often think first of new technology. But implementation applies to other crucial areas: new workflows, new clinical guidelines, new organisational structures, new service design, and more.
✅ How do we approach this?
In my experience, it can be a major task to conceptualise and plan how implementation should be approached and led. Within Implementation Science, there has been extensive research into the implementation of new technologies and workflows in healthcare, and several models and frameworks have been developed that can serve as inspiration.
✅ To break the cycle and create real change, we must rethink how we succeed with implementation:
🔹 Involve users early and continuously: When citizens, patients, and clinicians feel ownership, the likelihood of adoption increases.
🔹 Strengthen leadership anchoring: When leaders actively prioritise innovation projects, it creates space for staff to adopt them.
🔹 Bridge research and practice: Integrate evidence and evaluation from day one.
🔹 Design for scaling: Ensure solutions can work broadly across the healthcare system.
🔹 Work in partnerships: Engage companies, healthcare professionals, municipalities, and other key stakeholders.
If you need strategy or support for the implementation and scaling of health innovation, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
For the original Danish Version, please use this link:
Innovationsklumme Syddansk Sundhedsinnovation Region Syd
