PiPPi – The European Community of Practice for Healthcare Innovation

Driving Advancement in the Development of Interdisciplinary Transformation through Procurement of Innovation

Forward by David Konrad:

“Historically, as physicians and healthcare providers, when we identify problems that need
medical technology or innovation to help solve, we tend to go to the market to find something.
Sometimes, we opt for a commercial, off-the-shelf product which is rarely perfectly suitable
and often requires heavy compromise. In many cases, similar problems occur in different areas
of the same hospital or healthcare system and the searching exercise results in the sudden,
inappropriate abundance of solutions.

From my experience of being involved in procurement projects across Europe, I have learnt
that at the beginning of the process you might feel confident you have understood the
problem, you think you are addressing the whole iceberg and you have the right solution in
hand. However, when the work starts progressing and you dive under the water, you realise
you have only solved the very tip of the iceberg and there beneath exists a larger, more
complex problem which won’t be solved by your proposed solution. This is when you realise
you have not identified the true root causes and that procurement innovation cannot be
solved on your own.

Distilled, PiPPi has a simple aim: the ability to put out an open request to discover if anyone
else locally, regionally or across borders has experienced the same issue as you. It has grown
into a Community of Practice that supports, guides and creates a space for healthcare
providers, researchers, the market, funders, patients and citizens to come together. PiPPi is
there for them to share competences and experiences, fine-tune a problem, define it, develop
it and evaluate the early prototypes realised from the market.
We are all part of a unique ecosystem and for far too long have been distanced from the other
competences around us who can help to define a problem and face it in an interdisciplinary
way, with multiple perspectives.

The PiPPi platform that supports the CoP offers the potential to interact within areas of
interest. It gives the flexibility to jump in to help teams when your expertise is needed, to
use tools and resources designed to help guide teams through the PCP/PPI process and to
facilitate collaboration with experts whose perspectives are all essential to address the body
of the iceberg. To be part of it now is a worthwhile investment of time for better solution
development in the future.

I hope you will enjoy reading more about the findings and conclusions of this great European
cross-border initiative and feel inspired by the values and the work of the PiPPi Community of
Practice where you can find partners to share insights along your procurement journey and
drive innovation in healthcare all together!”

David Konrad

Managing Director, Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care,
Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden