Medical innovation to overcome social and economic challenges: GOT KIES
The 2020 Workshop on Medical Innovation and Healthcare (WOMI) tackles particularly urgent questions, set as it is in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created enormous social and economic challenges. To overcome these challenges, great hope lies in medical innovation particularly in the development of effective drugs or vaccines but also in changing organizational habits in society and in healthcare organizations like hospitals.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of our, political and economic systems. I looked forward more than ever to this year’s WOMI annual conference, and enjoyed participating in the debate and discussions over the much needed innovations by firms and hospitals, as well as government policy responses, to address the crisis. WOMI allows me to meet each year an international network of excellent researchers who discuss their early stage work on the dynamics of medical innovation."
Marcela Miozzo, , Professor of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship,Head of Strategy, International Management and Entrepreneurship Group, at King's Business School, UK
Research and societal relevance
Researchers in the WOMI community focus their research on innovation, entrepreneurship, and organization, in the context of health care organisations, industries, and the wider fields of medicine and life sciences. WOMI’s annual workshops provides regular opportunities to exchange ideas and discuss current and emerging challenges. They also engage in dialogue with selected practitioners – this year from The Hunter Central Coast MedTech Industry Network in Newcastle, Australia and from AstraZeneca in UK/Sweden – in order to strive to understand the societal relevance of their research, in different ways.
2020 is the 8th annual Workshop on Medical Innovation and Healthcare (WOMI) and it was co-organized by Bastian Rake, Maynooth University, and by Ethan Gifford and Maureen McKelvey, University of Gothenburg and GOT KIES. This year the workshop is digital, with more than 40 participants from many different universities and countries.
"WOMI is a wonderful opportunity to meet with leading international scholars studying medical innovation. The WOMI tradition where all papers have a carefully chosen discussant, and are seen by all participants, ensures a very high quality of debate. WOMI has become one of the research highlight of my year, and especially in this year of lockdowns, the hosting of WOMI by Maynooth University and University of Gothenburg is a particularly valuable opportunity to keep up with this important, fast moving field."
Michael M. Hopkins, Professor of Innovation Management at SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit,University of Sussex Business School.
The WOMI Community is part of the GOT KIES research network.
