Ideas For Innovators

Richard Pizzi | Healthcare IT News | March 3, 2013

Alex Fair, founder and CEO of MedStartr.com, says you must listen and ask the right questions. "Who do you listen to most? The answer is the marketplace – you have to follow the money," he told attendees at the Innovation Symposium on Sunday at the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition. 

Fair believes that active listening to customers is an essential aspect of innovation that is often overlooked.   "Innovation is understanding what people want, determining how much of this is profitable, and then deciding what can be done with it," Fair said.

Addressing innovation from a perspective external to healthcare was Mark Buchalter, director of innovation and design strategy at Hornal Anderson Design in Seattle. Buchalter began his innovation journey in commercial and residential architecture. He then experimented with furniture design, and ultimately moved into industrial design. He currently works with "building out the experience" of various high-profile brands, such as Starbucks...