As the world finds itself in the COVID-19 pandemic, many people and organizations are trying to overcome it or help mankind deal with it through innovation.
Relatedly, one of the key components of successful innovation is to celebrate innovation successes, which is what I would like to in this Innovation Newsletter with regards to COVID-19.
As I mentioned last month, just like President John F. Kennedy’s commitment in 1961 to “land a man on the Moon, and return him safely to the Earth” ushered in decade of incredible innovations, so can the fight against the Coronavirus and the preparation for future pandemics, provide mankind with tremendous innovative advances.
Three Things to Keep in Mind Regarding Innovation
To develop innovations in any setting, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, there are three things a 
person needs to keep in mind:
- To see every problem we incur in our daily lives as an opportunity for an innovation
- There are 100’s of millions, perhaps billions of people experiencing the exact same difficulty as you are, so there is a huge potential market for your innovation
- Innovations are not limited to some magical new invention, but include a wide range of ideas that result in “doing something in a better way”
Examples of Recent COVID-19 Innovations
An untold number of innovations have been developed and will continue to be created in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
I have included a sampling of these to give us a flavor of what is possible in circumstances like we find ourselves. The list starts with two very simple examples that show that innovations do not necessarily involve “rocket science”. I then share two innovations that our clients developed. Then I finish off with some innovations from across the world.
- Half gloves for knuckle-pushing of buttons.
- A device that lets you open car doors without touching the handle.
- One of our clients, who is a large manufacturer of commercial signs, used their extensive expertise with plastics to develop COVID-29 mitigation items and social distancing clear plastic shields.
- Another client who manufactures video game controllers, enhanced their products and added new sought-after functionality in response to people sheltering in place.
- When SARS first broke out in 2002, it took scientists more than a year to determine the genetic makeup of the virus. However, the genome of COVID-19 was sequenced in less than a month after the first case was identified.
- Researchers developed the first diagnostic test for the virus soon after the first public announcement was made about it.
- To discourage a person from touching their face and spreading the virus, a person develop a device named FaceFence that sounds a gentle alarm when a person starts to touch their face.
- To identify who has a fever, numerous thermal imaging camera systems and smartphone thermal imaging apps, either for individuals or large groups of people have been developed for use in office buildings, industrial plants, hospitals, airports and other public places.
- Because of the shortage of Ventilators for treating COVID-19 cases, various innovations have occurred including Richard Branson’s space venture Virgin Orbits building of a simple but effective ventilator from a windshield wiper motor and hand-operated resuscitator. Also, open-source designs for manufacturing ventilators have proliferated, thereby enabling various groups across the world to build Ventilators, and 3D printers are being used to create necessary respirator components.
- Some hospitals in Thailand and the United States are using “ninja robots” to help with the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The wheeled robots take patients’ temperatures and are equipped with a screen, allowing doctors to video chat with patients and minimize risk of exposure. Also, GermFalcon, a germ-killing robot was developed with that uses ultraviolet-C lamps to sanitize airplanes from viruses on surfaces and in the surrounding air.
- UNCAST, a data analytics company as well as other companies are using mobile GPS to determine if people are following social distancing guidelines.
- Veredus Laboratories, located in Singapore said it will soon release a “Lab-on-Chip” detection kit. It will allow patients to be tested for three kinds of coronaviruses within two hours. Also, various companies are developing rapid diagnostic kits that detect coronavirus infections within minutes.
Many Other Innovations Are Being Developed
The innovation examples I chose relate to the understanding, detection, protection, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19. However, as a consequence of having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, in reality, there are many other innovations being developed in the following areas:
- Working from home
- Video conferencing and communications
- Social distancing
- Manufacturing
- Production control
- Logistics and supply chain forecasting
- Home food preparation
It is critical that all businesses and organizations consider, from top to bottom, what they can “do in a better way” (innovation) as a result of having to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For many companies this includes developing innovations related to an uncertain future. This is a prudent exercise because many experts have shared there will be future events like this that will require a comprehensive and fast response to an unforeseen crisis affecting their company.
Where to Start
If you are a business owner or leader, start by “releasing” yourself to consider how your entire company can “do 
something in a better way”. Start with your core functions and then branch out to less crucial areas of your operation.
Next, convene your leadership team and ask them to analyze each of their areas for innovations that can improve their operations, provide flexibility in face of future emergencies, and allow you to continue to serve your customer/client through alternative means.
Then communicate to your personnel the need for innovation and doing things in a better way so as to create a more resilient and flexible organization.
This includes empowering them to develop ideas and communicate those ideas to an intellectually open and receptive leadership and management team. To properly do this a system like Brite Idea Lab needs to be put place to collect, evaluate, and implement these ideas.
If you could use assistance with effectively re-envisioning your company through innovation, please contact us using the information below so we can be a resource to you in this critical area.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17, years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive, and systematic FastTrak Innovation Program™, Innovation Academy™, and Structure of Success™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century enterprise.
Office: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
