Case analysis of Innovation Boulevard, a regional health innovation ecosystem in Surrey, B.C., Canada

1. Lessons from Innovation Boulevard:
A case study of a regional innovation ecosystem to support the
development of technologies in health & aging
Presentation to CAG 2016
Josephine McMurray, PhD,
Heather McNeil, PhD (Cand.),
Andrew Sixsmith, PhD,
Paul Stolee, PhD,
Heidi Sveistrup, PhD

2. Acknowledgements
• AGE-WELL is a federally funded Network of Centres of
Excellence accelerating innovation and technologies to
improve aging
• We are grateful for the generosity of the case study
participants
• The DRiVE (Developing Regional health InnoVation
Ecosystems) Project is an AGE-WELL funded research study
that explores how health and age technology innovation can
be facilitated through regional partnership
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3. Our program of research
• Systematic literature review of regional innovation
systems/ecosystems
• Development of a RHIE conceptual and theoretic model
• Case studies of 5 health innovation entities
• Taxonomy of innovation entities
• Theory of action model to guide the development of
RHIE’s
• Developmental evaluation, performance measurement
best practices
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4. Global inventory of health
innovation entities
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5. 5
BACKGROUND

6. What is Innovation Boulevard?
• Regional health innovation ecosystem
located in Surrey, B.C.
• Established in 2013 - address regional
economic and social challenges
• City-led initiative with Simon Fraser
University, Fraser Valley Health Authority
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7. 7
METHODS

8. Case Study Method
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• Semi-structured interviews (n=36) with stakeholders
• May, 2015 to May,
2016, (Fig.1).
• Relevant institutional archival documentation
(n=69) and verbatim transcripts of interviews were
analyzed using NVIVO-11©.

9. Theoretical lens
• Quadruple Innovation Helix (Arnkin, 2010;
Carayannis & Rakhmatullin, 2014)
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• Collaboration Theory (Grey, 1985)
to examine the iterative process of
problem solving (problem setting,
direction setting and structuring)
that defines a successful
collaboration (Fig.2) Fig 2. Collaborative Analytic Model –
Iterative problem-solving

10. 10
RESULTS

11. Collaboration Life-Cycle
• IB appears to be
following the
classic stages of a
collaboration life-
cycle
• Useful guide for
future action
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Fig 3. The Collaboration Life-Cycle
(Williams, Merriman &
Morris, 2016)

12. Issue Phase
Identify an
issue to solve &
recognize need
for multi-
stakeholder
involvement
“It wasn't about innovation, it was about bringing people
together. It was about the collaboration of different groups and
different types of people. We initially embarked upon the
health sector.” - Government
“I mean 95 languages are spoken. We've got the largest
population per capita of kids under the age of 19. We're from
1,000 to 1,200 people moving into the city each and every
month. There's a lot of things going on there.” - Government
“Your ability to deliver quality services improves dramatically
with the introduction of teaching, training, and research into
the fabric of your organization.” - Health System
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13. Assembly & Structure Phase
Growth, building
a network &
adding resources,
defining goals,
defining roles, &
coordinating
work
“So the main committee has a number of subcommittees,
and those subcommittees, uh, I would say there are, there
are 3 to do with, um, kind of, uh, uh, domains within
health, and then there's a bunch of others.” - Industry
“We knew that we had a faculty of health and that we do
a lot of experiential learning. She said, "Why don't we sit
down, take a look at whether this might be a good fit or
not?” - University
[In an}]ideal world if we are …successful, at one point it
will be financially independent. Basically, that whatever
Innovation Boulevard brings in from government or private
sources, or whatever; it's paying for the operation.
- University
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14. Productivity Phase
Optimal resources
to carry out
primary focus.
Key functions:
Communication,
Learning,
Decision-making,
and Managing
Stability
“It certainly helps the recruitment and retention young often
young people not just clinical people but, you know, a-
academics from every walk of life ‘.” - Health System
“That's their slogan, the engaged university, and they are, we
interact with SFU on a daily basis that creates constant cross
pollination between the city and SFU on a number of...”
- Government
“We get exposure to a very wide range of key stakeholders in
healthcare outside of the hospital environment…it gives us
additional insight into what might be coming, in terms of
healthcare changes in policy, more of an insight into community
healthcare.” - Industry
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15. Conclusions
• Collaboration Theory is an appropriate lens to
retrospectively & prospectively analyse IB’s evolution
• Success at this stage defined by ability to
communicate, make decisions collectively, work
through differences and resolve conflicts in the
context of the shared vision.
• Threats to stability going forward - rapid growth,
inability to manage change, available human and
financial resources
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16. • Josephine McMurray, PhD
• Assistant Professor, Lazaridis School of Business & Economics
• Wilfrid Laurier University
•  jmcmurray@wlu.ca
•  +01.1.519.242.7477
• @AgeWell_DRiVE
• www.drive-health-ecosystems.com
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