Patients and Caregivers as Developers of Medical Devices: An Empirical Study on User Innovation in the Healthcare Sector

Moritz Göldner analyzes the unexplored phenomenon of patients and caregivers as innovators with respect to their own unmet medical needs in two complementary studies. In study 1 he uses a mixed-method approach to analyze quantitative data from two datasets on more than 1,100 medical smartphone apps each and qualitative data from 16 interviews with developers of medical apps. He finds substantial evidence that patients and caregivers develop medical apps and shows that those apps receive significantly better ratings than company-developed apps. In study 2 he further explores the commercialization activities of patients and caregivers by analyzing 14 case studies of patients and caregivers who successfully brought their tangible medical device on the market. He finds that those innovators did not maximize their profits, but rather sought to market their devices at reasonable prices to offer access to many other patients. The author discusses these insights and draws conclusions for scholars and managers that are valid beyond this extreme case of user innovation.

About the author

Moritz Göldner is an innovation consultant for user-centered innovation in (digital) healthcare. Prior to this position, he was a project manager and research associate at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at Hamburg University of Technology. His research interests cover user innovation in healthcare, social innovation, the emergence of new medical technologies, as well as entrepreneurship.