RUFF & CO had the pleasure of lecturing at Copenhagen Business School for students from the MSc in Business Administration and Innovation in Healthcare.
The session focused on public-private innovation and partnerships in healthcare, a topic that is becoming increasingly critical as health systems face growing national and global challenges. To create real, scalable solutions, we need to move beyond silos and bring the right actors together across healthcare providers, industry, research, foundations, and public organisations.
Denmark has a strong foundation for this. With a long tradition of trust-based collaboration, user involvement, and cross-sector co-creation, the Danish healthcare ecosystem holds significant potential for developing and implementing innovative solutions that create value for patients, professionals, companies, and society.
During the session, we explored key success factors for effective public-private innovation, including:
- Placing user needs at the centre of innovation
- understanding the perspectives, opportunities, and constraints of different stakeholders
- moving beyond “pilotitis” toward long-term partnerships with real implementation and procurement potential
- navigating the strong Danish funding landscape, from early-stage public funding to private foundations and investment-driven health innovation
The lecture was part of the students’ Innovation Project, where they work on real healthcare challenges for host organisations and companies in the Danish healthcare sector.
At RUFF & CO, we are passionate about bridging strategy, innovation, and implementation in health and life science. It was inspiring to meet the next generation of international healthcare innovators and discuss how stronger partnerships can help accelerate meaningful change.
We are proud to contribute to this important programme, established in 2016 as a collaboration between Copenhagen Business School and the University of Copenhagen. It continues to be a rewarding partnership — and a valuable platform for shaping future leaders in healthcare innovation.
