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

 

Congratulations to Danish Life Science Cluster and all partners for organizing such an energetic, well-curated conference, exhibition, and networking event dedicated to health innovation in Denmark.
I had the great pleasure of moderating a session on the Stories behind selected Health Tech Startups and their solutions, and it was truly inspiring to meet Jørgen Jakobsen from CoFlow Visuals (Denmark), Sigrid WILLEMS from OSO-AI (France), and Dr Anna Cichowska Myrup MD FFPH MISF from Sophro Denmark! Each innovation journey is unique. Sometimes it’s driven by a personal experience and an unmet need; other times it’s serendipity, meeting the right person at the right moment, who voices a challenge that sparks a new healthcare solution.

Other highlights from WHINN included sessions on The Lighthouse Life Science, an ambitious Danish public-private partnership addressing major societal health challenges such as obesity, mental health, and health equity. The format is a testing lab for new frameworks and ways of working to develop future solutions with the user at the center.

And of course, there were important discussions on implementation of health technologies, a continuous challenge we must overcome to accelerate innovation in practice.

WHINN Week of Health Innovation Denmark

Lighthouse Life Science – Transforming Health with Partnerships

No successful innovation in healthcare without implementation

I got the opportunity to deliver a lecture on the importance of focusing on implementation when innovating in healthcare at AIT Entrepreneurship Center at Asian Institute of Technology at the beautiful campus just outside of Bangkok.

No Successful Innovation in Healthcare without Implementation. Technology alone is not enough. The true challenge and opportunity lie in adoption, diffusion, scaling, and sustained use. Implementing innovation is not a one-time rollout—it’s an ongoing effort to institutionalize new practices. The challenge is global in all healthcare systems – Denmark, Asia…:
Leaders must actively manage the transition from pilot to routine, including:

* Securing long-term funding
* Supporting behavior change
* Adjusting roles, routines, and regulations
* Building feedback and learning loops

Implementation Science is a field that we need to study more and apply. Research has led to the design of frameworks that can help both healthcare organisations and industry – and we need to work together. I my own work, I have come across several implementation frameworks and tools that can inspire and structure messy realities.

Great to be with inspiring faculty and engaged students at the Entrepreneurship Center. Thanks to all for the fruitful discussion about this important topic and sharing your own local experiences added so much to the content.

Asian Institute of Technology

#Implementationscience #Implementation #Healthinnovation #Digitalhealth #Transformation #Asia

Exciting news!

I’m returning to Techsauce Global Summit 2025 — this time as Co-Curator and Moderator/Speaker of the full day HealthTech Summit on 5 August in vibrant Bangkok! 🌏
Since 2018, I’ve proudly collaborated with Techsauce and its co-founder and CEO Oranuch (Mimee) Lerdsuwankij as trusted advisor and co-curator. It’s one of the largest and most dynamic platforms for global innovation in Southeast Asia. This year’s theme of the summit — “The Dawn of Symbiosis” — perfectly captures the power of cross-sector collaboration.

The Health Tech Summit, which is a part of the three-day Techsauce Global Summit, has now turned into a full day conference – a mirror of the increased global interest in how we will deliver healthcare in the future.

I’m incredibly proud to bring together 29 thought leaders and experts from across the healthcare ecosystem in Thailand and Asia, who, during 11 sessions, will be sharing real-world cases and insights that span System Transformation in a hospital setting, digital health, health equity, healthcare resilience in situations of crisis, and much more.

For more information, please check:

Health Tech Summit agenda 2025

#Techsauce2025 #HealthTechSummit #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #ASEANHealthTech #FutureOfHealth#GlobalHealthLeadership

I’m proud and excited to have joined the Board of Danish Life Science Cluster – and honoured to be elected as 3rd Vice Chair!

It’s a privilege to contribute to Denmark’s national cluster for life science and welfare technology, where collaboration between business, research, and the public sector is key to driving innovation, growth, and healthier lives! Danish Life Science Cluster has 250+ members from both healthcare industry, public hospitals, care organisations, research institutions and other actors in the Life Science ecosystem. The cluster is certified with a gold label from European Clusters Excellence under the European Union.

I look forward to working with the board, the cluster team, and our members to strengthen the link between ideas and implementation – and between people and solutions that truly make a difference.

Thank you for the trust 🙏

#lifescience #healthtech #innovation #klyngesamarbejde #bestyrelsesarbejde #danishlifesciencecluster #boardwork

Together with Business Finland I was thrilled to host a successful Finnish-Danish webinar on AI in Healthcare, bringing together leading healthcare innovators, tech experts, and system stakeholders from both countries. The event showcased cutting-edge AI solutions and opened the door to new cross-border collaboration opportunities.

The webinar built on the insights from the recent “Snapshot of AI in Danish Healthcare” report, developed by RUFF & CO. for Business Finland. The report highlights key trends, challenges, and partnership potential in the Danish healthcare ecosystem. Are you a part of the Finnish Life Science ecosystem – then Please reach out to us if you with a copy of the Snapshot!

The Key Themes of the webinar were:
👉 Strategic use of AI to support clinical decision-making, diagnostics, and population health management
👉 Cross-border innovation potential, leveraging Nordic strengths in digital infrastructure and health data
👉 Case presentations from Finnish and Danish companies showcasing real-world AI applications (e.g., early diagnosis, patient flow optimization, predictive analytics)

The key Takeaways:
💦 Strong interest in bilateral collaboration around AI pilots, procurement models, and regulatory alignment
💦 Finland’s and Denmark’s healthcare ecosystems are well-positioned for AI-driven transformation, given their structured health data, public-private models, and tech-savvy environments.

Many thanks to all great and thought speakers as well as the Business Finland team in Copenhagen.

#AIinhealthcare #digitalhealth #Healthdata #Nordiccollaboration

Great to be a part of the MedFIT2024 and BioFIT2024 event in Lille, France 4-5 December 2024! I moderated two panels on:
✔️ Hospital Care and Creating Value for and with patients
✔️ How to accelerate the adoption of Digital Health Therapies in Europe

It is always very giving with these cross-border discussions. So good to meet and work with expert speakers from the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and beyond. Many thanks for co-creating expert content in the panels and usable action recommendations to the audience.
Last but not least, a great tour and presentations at the Eurasanté Health Cluster in Lille. Impressive work by the French organisers!

Innovate or die & Sustainability is everyone’s business!

Those were some of the headlines in our top-notch four day Master Class Business Innovation in Life Science program provided by Atrium Copenhagen (The Danish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry) and CBS Executive Fonden for a group of ambitious and curious pharma executives and experts. As a course leader, I was excited to see the high level of engagement and enthusiasm from participants in the sessions.

In part 1 researchers from Copenhagen Business School provided excellent research and concrete tools in the fields of innovation leadership, and ESG and Sustainability. This combined with high-level practitioners who shared the big picture as well as concrete cases on how pharma and hospital systems are working on ESG matters. Last but not least, an eye-opening key-note by Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings, who lead us into the challenges of pharma businesses. He stressed the need for pharma to think and work differently to mitigate present and future markets and global health:
* Open up for external collaborations, licensing, and mergers and acquisitions
* Focus on Gen. AI, digitalization and quantum
* Focus on Preventative Medicine for earlier treatment
* Access to drugs worldwide

In part 2 we focused on:
@ AI and Data Science as enablers for innovation in pharma and across the life sciences value chain. Including the patient’s perspective and ethics.
@ The increasing role of Public-Private Innovation collaborations and Strategic Partnerships as value creators in Life Science. Including how to be an attractive partner. Many thanks to thought leaders from Microsoft, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Innovation at Bispebjerg Hospital and Danish Life Science Cluster for sharing insights and state of the art cases.

Susie is proud of being stage advisor and speaker at another successful Health Tech Stage (Summit) at Southeast Asia’s most outstanding tech event.

 

AI’s impact on healthcare in Asia took center stage during the Health Tech Stage 2024 at TECHSAUCE Global Summit in Bangkok 7th-9th of August. It was an honour to return as both stage advisor and speaker, contributing to this important conversation!

We were privileged to host 20 distinguished thought leaders from across the healthcare ecosystem, who shared their insights and real-world applications of AI in healthcare. The venue was packed, and our health tech stage continues to grow each year.

 

Over nine compelling sessions, we explored a range of topics, among others:

* Revolutionary Technologies Shaping the Future of Healthcare: AI is at the forefront in Thailand, to become a leading medical hub in Asia.

* Unlocking AI’s Potential in Healthcare: We highlighted PreceptorAI, a Thai startup harnessing large language and vision models to support healthcare professionals.

* Women’s Health: Startups like Smart Migraine, Talk to Peach, and Momby showcased how AI is bridging gaps in women’s health, from managing migraines to enhancing sexual health and supporting new parents.

* Preventative Medicine for a Healthier Life: A successful AI-driven lung screening program by AstraZeneca, in partnership with important local hospitals, highlighted the crucial role of AI in prevention. It was a pleasure to have AstraZeneca’s country president Roman Ramos join me on stage to discuss this innovative approach.

* Opportunities in HealthTech: Delving into precision drug dosing and personalized patient care powered by AI.

* The Future of Healthcare: A futurist session that examined how robotics, telemedicine, wearables, genomics, 3D printing, and VR are collectively reshaping healthcare, with a strong emphasis on patient empowerment and patient experience.

* Hospital to Clinic to Home: A dynamic panel on how AI can revolutionize care across these settings. The consensus was clear: data sharing and interoperability are essential before fully integrating AI.

 

Other critical issues

Other critical issues: The evolving roles of healthcare professionals as technology advances, and the potential of global healthcare staffing to leverage international expertise in addressing local shortages and improving outcomes.

We extend our deepest gratitude to all the passionate speakers and a special thanks to Oranuch (mimee) Lerdsuwankij, the driving force setting the stage for tech innovation in Thailand, Southeast Asia, and beyond!

 

What did the international press write about Techsauce 2024?

https://www.koreatechdesk.com/techsauce-global-summit-2024-attracts-18000-attendees-accentuating-thailands-status-as-seas-tech-gateway/