Mhealth - Role & Opportunities in India

Hi everybody
So here are some questions


- How can we extend the reach of our basic healthcare facilities? – Considering India has less than 7lakh functional hospital beds of which more than 40% are located in top 20 cities & we have less than 6.5 lakh qualified doctors.


- How can we detect & control the availability of adulterated medicines? - Considering we have high incidence of adulterated & expired medicines in the market estimated approx 20%


- How can people be empowered with information to stay healthy? – Considering a rise in Lifestyle diseases in urban cities (diabetes, depression, etc)


- Can being healthy be made sexy, aspirational & be incentivized?


- How to change behavior of people to be more health conscious? & above all
What role Mobile devices play in addressing all of the above


Barcamp is always a great place to gather & discuss ideas. Recently me & my friend Bhavya (check her blog - http://bhavyavoice.blogspot.com/) presented about Mhealth at Barcamp Bangalore.


We spoke on Mhealth - Role, Challenges & Opportunities in India


A lot is being said about Mhealth. It is being described as the next big thing after Mobile entertainment & Mobile Finance. So what exactly is Mhealth. Well, according to UN foundation Mhealth stands for Provision of health related services via mobile communications.
A lot is being done in the field of medicine.


Check out Daniel Kraft TEDx talk about upcoming Innovations in the field of healthcare. Includes lot of examples on how Mobile Devices are also being used.





As we searched around, we found a plethora of applications on the app store. However as we prepared our talk ....focused on Indian context, some questions remained –


Do Mobile Devices have a significant role to play in India & more importantly what role considering low awareness & attention being paid to health. Also low use of smartphones if we take the entire 750 million phones or so. Majority of people still have the basic mobile phones……so apps are out of question.


Some what are the possible roles that mobile devices can play in India in health domain:
Mobile devices can play the following roles in Indian context.

Extend reach - Considering India has less than 7 lakh functional hospital beds of which more than 40% are located in top 20 cities & we have less than 6.5 lakh qualified doctors, mobile devices can be used extend reach of basic health related information.
Mobile devices can play two important roles to address a issue like this. First how to enable people to prevent diseases instead of fighting diseases. If people are able to prevent diseases then the burden of patients on the health infrastructure will be a lot lesser. Can SMS be a method .Can the devices be used to make people aware on how to stay healthy.
The second role could be to extend the reach of already available healthcare professionals & facilities. ……Imagine the role that mobile devices can play in helping Asha & Anganwadi workers to update their skills regularly & learn about how to treat… Can there be possibility to empower people in villages to have the knowledge of a doctor in the city …Can upcoming technologies like 3D be used to help in simulating the treatment process.
Can there be a new business opportunity for Mobile Service Networks to link a doctor & patient who are at different places.


Check & Control - How can every person purchasing a medicine know that he his not purchasing an adulterated medicine. What role mobile devices can play to address these issues. What kind of services are we talking about. Which technology can be used.


Detection – Can we detect epidemics early & restrict their spread. How can mobile devices play a role here.


Change Behavior – How to change behavior of people to being aware & knowledgeable about being healthy. Can being healthy be made inspirational & incentivized. Can people share how healthy they are. How to empower people with the knowledge of what is good health. Can metrics be made available for them to keep a track of how they are doing. Can we take some inspirations from gamefication trend & incentivize people.


I think although mobile devices can play a very important role, still I think we will face some issues like Authenticity of information being provided (Can we trust the information), Accountability on the information being shared (Who will be accountable – will mobile service providers be accountable for information they provide) & Affordability. Going ahead this area promises to offer a huge market & a lot of Business opportunities. However there has be a collaboration between Hospitals (for Authentic Information), Service Providers (for building the platform) & Government (for making it affordable).


I guess there is enough reasons to believe that Mobile devices can play an important role in addressing healthcare issues.


Check out the recent Coca Cola commercial reasons to believe – pretty cool







Tc
Neeraj


Statistics Sources – Business Standard - http://tinyurl.com/62jf52d
PWC - http://tinyurl.com/62klff3
mHealth for Development, UN Foundation - http://tinyurl.com/aptf7m
Coca Cola ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKDOWAf5M8

Changing role of Design professionals

Hey Everybody
Loved this talk by Don Norman. He Hints a lot of things on how the role of Design professionals/ Design agencies will be changing in the coming years.



Don Norman at IIT Design Research Conference 2010 from IIT Institute of Design on Vimeo.




Neeraj
Video Source : http://vimeo.com/12022651

Design & Innovation resources- April 2010

http://tinyurl.com/2f8f6ao

Hey Everybody........
Here are some articles that I found interesting in the month of April.


1. An Article about GO JIYO (India's first 3D virtual reality world by Godrej). Check Article
2. Economist came out with a special report on innovation in emerging markets. Check Article
3. Accenture's group COO talks about key issues companies are facing post recession, growth opportunities for businesses in emerging markets and how business of consulting is changing. Check Article
4. Check out this amazing article by IIMB faculty about competition. Check Article
5. Check out Ideaken.......(Inspired from Innocentive?). Link
6. Check out the great talk by Prof. Anil Gupta (Honey Bee Network) at TED India. Link



Was wondering what type of Design & Business Model will be needed for these grassroot innovations inorder to make them commercially successful.


7. Micromax has become India's 3rd largest mobile phone vendor. check out its story & what approach they undertook to compete. Check Article'
8. Blackberry is facing intense competition from other Smart phones. Check out how they plan to compete. Check Article
9. Check out how IBM's virtual supercomputer is tapping unused processors of half a million people like you & me for scientific research. Check Article
10. Is Innovation Overrated. Is Imitation better for fast paced & successful growth. Check out an article on Imitation economy. Check Article
11. Check out a product design company with a different approach & business model. Check Article
12. Great Article on How Designers Think.......Check Article
13. Is Geo Location the next big thing in social media. Check Article
14. Talking about Geo Location.....Here's an article discussing whether opportunities & relevance that Foursquare offers for Business. Check Article
15. Will Smart Lenses be the Bluetooth headsets for future? Check out
16. How to Design for China. Jan Chipchase & Mark Rolston of Frog Design discusses. Check Article
17. Post It turns 30. Check Article


Thanks
Neeraj

Rethinking Match Box Category

Photo Source: http://tinyurl.com/2vh4dr2

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

While looking for a matchbox during a powercut a thought came to my mind.
When was the last time we heard of some Innovation in the Inexpensive Matchbox (per unit cost around 50 paisa) category.
What are the possibilities of re-thinking how a matchbox is used, bought, distributed, perceived & manufactured. What if we were to change the meaning that Matchbox as a product offers - from a functional product used by the masses to light to being a fashionable item collected by the classes.
What will be the Business implications...........will it open new market space for the Industry, Improve Margins, Boost Demand.
What design elements we can use to achieve this objective. What Business Model changes will likely to be Implemented.



Thanks

Neeraj

Design & Innovation resources- March 2010

Hey Everybody
Here are some of the links I found both Interesting & Useful being posted in the month of March. I have divided them into the categories of Innovation & Design Thinking, Basics, Reframing/Rethinking, Competition & Resources.


Innovation & Design Thinking

1. Check out the Ten Innovations that will Transform Medicine in an article on HBR (Check Link)
2. Jocelyn Bailey posted 4 visions on the world tomorrow & how to shape your company around them (Check Link)
3. Here is the list of 15 design tips you can learn from Apple (Check Link) Nice read.
4. Learn about how mobile phones are transforming economy, society & lives of people in Africa (Check Link)
5. Jane Fulton Suri of Ideo authored an interesting paper titled - Informing Our Intuition: Design Research for Radical Innovation. (Check Link)
6. Paula Thornton takes a critical look at the books by Tim Brown & Roger Martin. Check the review. (Check Link)
7. Now, What do U.S. President Jack Kennedy, snowboarder Shaun White, and Indian tycoon Ratan Tata have in common? Check out the article by Vijay Govindarajan on BusinessWeek (Check Link)
8. What does it takes to come out with a winning mobile phone. Check out as Izwan Ismail talks to Nokia designers & finds out. (Check Link)
9. Do Improv comedians make the best design thinkers. One professors beleives so. Check it out. (Check link)
10. How banks can do better. Here is a post by Ideo's Ryan Jacoby. (Check Link)
11. Learn how to get noticed in a crowded market in this FastCompany Article. (Check link)
12. Bhagwan Chowdhry's FAB Campaign Aims to Put $100 in Bank Account for Every Baby. Learn How. (Check Link)
13. How Web 2.0 might foster & enable an Innovation revolution. Check it out. (Check Link)
14. Roger Martin and Jennifer Riel wrote about the decline of Miramax films & what we can learn. (Check Link)
15. Materials driving product Innovation in 2010. (check link)

Basics
1. Paul Thurston & Nick Marsh posted a brief guide to Service Design. (Check Link)
2. I found a special report by MIT Sloan on Design Thinking which includes couple of articles. (Check Link)
3. Although it has been posted in Oct 08, still like this video of Roger Martin explaining what is Design Thinking & Integrative Thinking. (Check Link)
4. Thinking & doing Ethnography in Service Design. (Check Link)
5. Here's ten steps of becoming the designer you want to be. (Check Link)

Reframing/ Rethinking
1. Check out the article on Redesigning the Concept and Role of the Automobile. (Check Link)
2. Check out the article by Dr. Jay Parkinson on How to redesign healthcare. (Check Link)
3. Rethinking washing machine. (Check link)
4. Rethinking the C-Suite. (Check Link)


Competition
1. IIT- Kanpur is holding the NEXT50 Innovation Challenge. (Check Link)

Resources
1. Lots of papers from the DMI conference 2008 - Design thinking : New Challenges for Designers, managers & organisations. (Check Link)
2. Check out the 10 essential design tools for Social Media pros (Check Link)
3. A dedicated channel on service design on Guardian. (Check Link)
4. Free Design eBooks. (Check Link)
5. Love This talk by Gary Vaynerchuk. (Check Link)
6. Check out the cool Infographics. (Check Link)
7. Experientia Design is on Vimeo. check out their channel. (Check Link)


Thanks
Neeraj

Picture Source: Check Link

Design & Innovation Resources -Feb 2010

Hey Everybody

Its been an eventful month with lots of happening in the design world. Here are some of the links that i found interesting from the world of design.

1. Jan end saw the launch of Apple I-Pad. Robert Fabricant provides his views as to why the Ipad is the GAMES changer. check link

2. FastCompany is out with its list of World's Most Innovative Companies. Check Link

3. Design Observer posted an Inspiring interview with Anil Gupta of the National Innovation Foundation highlighting his initiatives to discover & help Grassroot Innovators in India. Check Link

4. Seth Godin posted a good post on 'Random rules for ideas worth spreading'. Check Link

5. BBC website is in the midst of revamping its website. Here is the story of the creation of its new global visual language . Check Link

6. Ideo came out with a new mobile application of their method cards. Check Link

7. Stanford D School uploaded a talk of Prof. Bernie Roth, one of the d.school's founders talking about how design has changed over the years from design of objects to design of almost everything. Check link

8. FastCompany in its latest magazine has couple of great articles. Check out this one 'Business advice from Van Halen' (Can we set up systems wherein problems would surface automatically before they actually occur. Reminds me of Poka Yoke system in my Kaizen Class). Check link

9. The Finance Minister of India recently presented his budget. Here is a Infographic of the budget. Check link.

10. I found this useful article about Ten ways to measure Design Success by DMI. Check link

Thanks

Neeraj

Image Source: check Link

Age of Innovation

Hi Everyone

Recently I wrote an article as a guest blogger on the Importance of Innovation in Indian context for Trak.in (among Top Ten Indian Business Blogs).

Here is a link to the same. Check it out.

http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/09/14/age-of-innovation/

Thanks

Neeraj

Photo Source: http://trak.in/

Indian Grassroot Innovations

http://ideas-innovation.blogspot.com/

A question just came to my mind.

Is 'Necessity the mother of all Innovations!!!'.

I mean we all have heard of Innovation processes of large blue chip companies which hire people from crème de la crème Institutes who work to solve problems with the objective to find the next growth path for company or solve economic & society issues.

But what exactly motivates a common man to come up with an Innovative Idea? What Motivates him/her to create something new with bare minimum resources? What makes them to persevere even after many failures?

Do they have the need to change things which makes them to carry on & Innovate.

Below are some of the many, many examples from India wherein common people have Innovated & changed things at the same time creating a possibility to set up new entrepreneurial Indian Ventures.

This is what I call GRASSROOT INNOVATIONS.

Check out the following Videos of INDIAN INNOVATORS. Also check out the National Innovation Foundation providing institutional support in scouting, spawning, sustaining and scaling up grassroots innovations and helping their transition to self supporting activities.

What can we do to make these unique Ideas into a profitable & sustaining businesses & unlock their massive values?

Some of the colleges like Welingkar Institute of Management have already started this process (of which I was part of, while I was in Welingkar) of providing marketing & business knowledge assistance & are developing business concepts/models.

Here are the Videos

More Videos on Youtube. Type Indian Innovators

Thanks

Neeraj

Source: http://www.youtube.com/ http://www.nif.org.in/

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frame_us/3140950401/ by Primus D'Mello