The Frugal Way to Grow

InnovatingIn China, the Siemens R&D team has designed a high-end computed tomography (CT scanning) device that’s simple enough for health professionals who are not doctors to use. To develop this, the company pioneered a type of innovation it called “industrial design thinking”: The innovators convened workshops with users of its devices and used craft supplies such as colored paper to build models in order to get a clearer idea of what people wanted.

For example, conventional CT scan devices in Western hospitals are used for a wide variety of purposes, including the detection of rare diseases. The settings and controls are so complicated that operators must be trained at length to use them. But the Chinese users were much more interested in a few basics, such as diagnosing sports-related injuries and other common ailments. As these operators talked about their needs, making models of what would work for them, the possibilities became clear. The result was a Siemens scanner built for speed and simplicity. It consumes less energy but processes images faster than a conventional scanner. It cuts the cost of treatment by 30 percent and reduces radiation by as much as 60 percent. And it is remarkably easy to use.

Read the entire article in Strategy + Business