Globally, co-innovation platforms in the public health sector have been used as collaborative spaces in which various stakeholders, such as businesses, governments, NGOs, and academics, gather to co-create, share, discuss and implement innovative ideas to address complex societal or health system challenges. Last week we held a successful webinar titled: Co-Innovation Platforms in support of sustainable transition to scale: moving from talk to action. The webinar was attended by 43 participants with different academic backgrounds and working either in government ministries, NGOs, academia and partner stakeholders from all over the world.
Creating a co-innovation platform that is impactful or that moves from talk to action is a challenge that is faced by numerous stakeholders in the public health sector space. The webinar had seven panellists who had experience of having worked in or implemented co-innovation platforms in their various capacities i.e. Spark Health Africa Founder & CEO as the Moderator and the Technical Lead for the Education and Training (Kenya), Health Innovation Information Management Specialist at WHO AFRO), the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Innovent Labs Africa Ltd (Uganda), Investment Director in the Public Sector (Grant) Team at the Global Innovation Fund (GIF), Senior program director and manager of the Results for Development (R4D) innovation practice, Director for Scale & Sustainability at Grand Challenges Canada and the Founder and CEO of Uthabiti Africa as panellists. The webinar discussion lasted for two hours via the Zoom online platform. The CEO of SHA moderated the webinar event. The aim of the webinar was twofold:
Firstly to Provide verifiable evidence (through lessons and insights from panel speakers) of the catalytic effect that Co-Innovation Platforms have in promoting a sustainable transition of scaling to government.
Secondly, to encourage other Co-Innovation Cohorts to join the Spark Health Africa Learning Network chapter of E-Campus to share their scaling experiences and get resources for technical assistance before and as they scale in their settings.
With informed consent to record the webinar, broad topics exploring participants observations and experiences with co-innovation platforms they have initiated, facilitated, or participated in were discussed. Participants were also asked to elaborate on the factors that give rise to power imbalances amongst stakeholders and provide examples to restore that balance. Panellists shared examples of specific capacities that have developed directly or indirectly by the co-innovation platforms the have initiated, or participated in.
In order to move from talk to action in sustainable transition, panellists were in agreement that co-innovation platforms should focus on the following fiver key enablers:
1. Partnership and convening meetings between government and implementing stakeholders is critical
2. Identifying and co-creating appropriate scaling innovations
3. Identifying barriers that can affect co-innovation platforms
4. Learning and capacity building
5. Constituting a co-innovation platform that is impactful – moving from talk to action
To create a co-innovation platform that moves from talk to action requires preparedness by all stakeholders to collaborate and coordinate, to commit to investing in innovative approaches, and a readiness to embrace change Regular contact and feedback that includes physical or online meetings to facilitate interaction and knowledge sharing such as those provided by SHA and VillageReach are important. It is important that voices are heard and engaged with in the co-innovation process. Provision of resources be it funding, data, infrastructure can be supportive for the growth and participation of members in the co-innovation platform. This may include funding, access to data and infrastructure, and training. Last but not least panellists agreed on three important questions to ask in any co-innovation platform:
1. What value is provided to each of the stakeholders on your platform i.e. government, funders and implementers and are people still able to engage on the platform?
2. What are the different features on the platform that stakeholders use the most?
3. What is the actualised impact of getting to scale and are you developing impactful methodology to determine scale of innovation with good enough precision?
In conclusion, co-innovation platforms offer a powerful means of moving from talk to action in sustainable transition by bringing together diverse stakeholders to generate, share, and implement innovative solutions. The webinar held by Spark Health Africa and VillageReach on Co-Innovation Platforms in support of sustainable transition to scale: moving from talk to action was very engaging with the moderator and panellists sharing various personal and collective perspectives. Panellists had tons of experience and interesting stories to tell about co-innovation platforms and sustainable transition to scale in the different communities that they work in. The lessons learned and shared on the webinar on co-innovation platforms can be replicated in other public health sector programmes who are busy with scaling up and prioritizing partnership, scaling innovation and monitoring and evaluation can support the transition to a more sustainable future. Additional information on the five key enablers identified above as well as the specific examples shared by panellists during the webinar will be elucidated on in an academic article that will be published soon.