Innovating Healthcare: The Use of Wireless Endoscopy

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Introduction

Wireless endoscopy is a medical procedure that entails looking inside the body using a camera pill capsule. The patient has to swallow the pill, which comprises one or two microscopic cameras, a battery, a light bulb, and a radio transmitter. Other names used to describe medical technology include capsule endoscopy, video endoscopy, and small bowel endoscopy. Wireless endoscopy enables the doctor to effectively scan the lining of the middle part of the gastrointestinal tract in the small intestine across the jejunum, duodenum, and ileum). The standard endoscopy uses a tube the physician inserts into the body. However, doctors cannot use the traditional approach to access the lower part of the bowel. According to the European Patent Office (n.d.), wireless endoscopy is commonly administered when investigating the cause of bleeding from the small intestine. Doctors can also use it to detect ulcers, polyps, inflammatory bowel disease (Crohns disease), and small intestine tumours.

Wireless endoscopy was invented by an Israeli-born medical scientist, Gavriel Iddan, following a long-standing research work spanning over two decades. The invention was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the CE Mark certificate was obtained in 2001 for expansive application in medicine (Adler, 2017). The discussion in this paper is centred on the innovation aspect of wireless endoscopy. Specifically, the paper addresses the stimulating factors that may have facilitated the development of wireless endoscopy, the framework, and applicable innovation search space within the context detailed by Bessant and Tidd (2015). Finally, the discussion describes the entrepreneurial and innovation characteristics Iddan exercised throughout the innovation journey.

Stimulating Factors in the Development of Wireless Endoscopy

Entrepreneurship is born out of seeing an opportunity and acting on the chance. The innovation process involves taking ideas forward and focusing on their modification and refinement to develop a valuable product, process or service. However, the process is triggered in a multiplicity of ways. Bessant & Tidd (2015) state that if the process is managed effectively, people can spot and search for opportunities widely. Bessant & Tidd (2015) propose a wide assortment of impulses that can kick-start the path to innovation. In total, they identified twelve sources of innovation spanning from shocks to the system or events that change the world to exploring alternative future possibilities and opening them up.

The journey to the development of wireless endoscopy came about by coincidence following the interaction between Gavriel Iddan and Eitan Scapa. Adler (2017) states that the two were Israeli nationals who were spending their sabbatical leave in Boston, United States. Gavriel Iddan was conducting a study in X-ray and ultrasound imaging and developed an interest in using fibre optics in the gastrointestinal tract (Akpunonu et al., 2022). This is when Scapa, a gastroenterologist, told Iddah that no existing fibre optics technology would be used to conduct a medical examination of the small bowel. This is the point where Iddan learnt of an entrepreneurial opportunity. Bessant & Tidd (2015) call this form of recognizing an opportunity a knowledge push, which has long been a basis of innovative start-ups. The opportunity was recognized out of two researchers sharing ideas.

However, knowing that an opportunity exists is inadequate to inspire innovation. There are many opportunities that people are aware of but choose to avoid acting on them. Bessant & Tidd (2015) state that the most critical aspect of innovation is to start thinking of prospective solutions. This development sparked up the entrepreneurial knack in Iddan. Under the knowledge-push stimulator, entrepreneurs use ideas from their research or research from others to create innovations. Iddan began to find a solution through his research and later incorporated a team leading to the development of wireless endoscopy.

Furthermore, Iddan leveraged existing technologies to conduct further research and identify the best way they could be applied to enable physicians to examine the small bowel. According to Bessant & Tidd (2015), innovations can be formulated through recombination, which involves transferring ideas and applications from one world to a new context. The invention of wireless endoscopy initially started with the exploration of endoscopy and the small charged coupled device (CCD) imaging chip technology. CCD proved challenging to use as it was bulky and consumed more energy. Iddan stumbled upon CMOS technology that was more effective and incorporated the idea of developing a better capsule camera that was light and energy-efficient.

Five-Question Framework in the Case of the Camera Pill Innovation

There are innumerable opportunities for innovation, but the main challenge in invention management lies in identifying the potential among the many possibilities. Bessant & Tidd (2015) state that the challenge occurs due to a lack of adequate resources to cover all the bases. Therefore, the best alternative is to find an underlying plan to guide the search process. Individual entrepreneurs are mainly affected because they need the capacity to explore multiple orientations simultaneously.

As a result, a five-question framework can be used to further understand all the available sources. The five questions are; What, When, Where, Who, and How. can be applied to define the development process of the camera pill innovation. Bessant and Tidd (2015) argue that the first question, What helps define the different options that can be identified through an incremental or radical change? The innovation by Iddan was pushed by the desire to create a solution to an existing problem. There existed many options to conduct endoscopy that Iddan exploited to enable him to work from what is known to the unknown. He worked through incremental innovation to build on what had already been established: endoscopy, x-rays, ultrasounds, imaging, CCD, and CMOS technologies to create wireless endoscopy.

When is based on the different search needs at various stages of the innovation/enterprise? It helps to define the timing founded on the different stages in the product or industry lifecycle, which then informs the push or pull innovation. Iddan developed his innovation at the time the industry had matured such that he focused on radical product innovation to come up with the capsule pill camera. Exploration defines the search from the local point aiming to capitalize on existing knowledge to the end extreme and beyond into new edges (Bessant & Tidd, 2015). Iddan identified that he had to work with the existing ideas starting with the essential endoscopy operation, where he expanded the science by integrating it with a camera.

Additionally, Who describes the other players implicated in the search process. It extends to the broader community of more people inside and outside the organization. Iddan worked with a team of expert physicists and engineers drawn from different areas of specialization to refine his idea of developing a camera pill capsule (Akpunonu et al., 2022). Lastly, How define the instruments for enabling search? Iddan depended on reading to expand his knowledge, which was when he discovered the CMOS technology. He augmented the reading with extensive research that enabled him to transform his idea from a concept to reality.

Innovation Zone Corresponding to the Search Strategy Adopted by Gavriel and His Collaborators

Innovators focus on simplifying the process of innovation by defining the space where their effort will be concentrated. The area of focus is established after scanning the environment and spotting the relevant elements, including the competitors, threats to watch out for, opportunities to maximize, and collaborators, among others. The framing helps to provide some stability and describes the space within which the innovation possibility lies. Bessant & Tidd (2015) defined the framing process for four zones that characterize innovation search spaces. Zone 1,2,3, and 4 represent operational optimization, organizational transformation, re-frame and co-evolve.

Zone 1 blends with exploitation, where an innovator works within a familiar domain and seeks to take advantage of the knowledge base that has already been established. Zone 2 involves exploration characterized by pushing the boundaries of innovation within familiar territory. Zone 3 characterizes an innovation involving new elements and combinations grounded on a diverse and more open strategy to search (Bessant & Tidd, 2015). Finally, zone 4 implicates an interaction of different elements to make an intricate system that is exceptionally difficult to dig through systematically.

The search strategy adopted by Iddah and his collaborators fits well in the Zone 2 innovation space. Under Zone 2, the search strategy is focused on pushing the boundaries of what is known and deploying distinct search methods while working within an established framework. The camera pill came out of pushing the frontiers on how endoscopy could be applied to make the medical examination of the gastrointestinal tract easy. Bessant & Tidd (2015) state that the search strategies under exploration are much more about expert groups and networks. This characterizes the research team Iddan worked with in developing the camera pill capsule. The team constituted people with expertise in different areas that needed to be explored further to see how they could work together using the existing knowledge to create a new product (Adler, 2017). Some of the members and their expertise include Eric Fossum (CMOS), Don Avni (analogue video), and Scapa (gastroenterologist).

Key Individual Characteristics of Gavriel Iddan as an Inventor and Entrepreneur

Innovation and entrepreneurship require a high level of creativity and a unique attitude that only some have. It involves inherent uncertainty that only a few people are willing to welcome (Kerr et al., 2018). Therefore, innovators such as Iddan have specific attributes that set them apart. Iddan succeeded in inventing the camera pill capsule because he was confident and optimistic. Even though he was inventing the tiny camera that would have to be swallowed and travel through the and provide data, he did not have a fear of the risks involved. In its place, Iddah made the most out of the opportunity and trusted the judgment and abilities of the team. He was optimistic that the effort put into the innovation process would result in good outcomes.

Iddan exemplified a pattern of continuous reflection such that he continually questioned his ideas and the direction of the innovation. The process of developing the camera pill captured kept changing, for instance, from using CCD to using CMOS. Iddan and his collaborators kept noticing new information they considered essential for the project. In addition, he was action-oriented, which enabled him to transform intellectual work into functional ideas. The characteristic proved essential when building the camera pill prototypes. Iddan pushed the team to plan the experiments, set up prototypes, and run the experiments at the earliest opportunity.

Furthermore, Iddan showed admirable intellectual humility, which became the nucleus of the innovation. Despite being knowledgeable in X-ray and ultrasound imaging, Iddan was humble and embraced new information. He was open to learning by owning up to the limits of his knowledge, which is how he discovered the CMOS technology that was instrumental in developing the camera pill capsule. Kerr et al. (2018) state that intellectual humility extends to freely sharing depressing feedback that opens new paths for formulating alternative solutions. Iddan was able to extract learning from experiments and implement different ideas in the evolution towards the creation of wireless endoscopy technology.

Conclusion

The discovery of wireless endoscopy opened up a new frontier in the medical field by allowing easy examination of the small intestines. The journey to the discovery began with sharing ideas between two Israeli nationals, Iddan and Scapa, during their sabbatical leave in Boston, United States. Iddan learnt of the opportunity through a knowledge push stimulator and started to find a solution to the problem. His idea was developed within the five-questions framework. Iddan worked within Zone 2 of the innovation space involving exploration to bring together different ideas under endoscopy and imaging to create the camera pill capsule. He succeeded as an entrepreneur and innovator due to his confidence and optimism, continuous reflection, action-oriented, information humility, and ability to extract learning. These attributes enabled him to maintain his focus and work effectively with a broader team until the wireless endoscopy innovation succeeded.

References

Adler, S. N. (2017). The history of time for capsule endoscopy. Annals of Translational Medicine, 5(9), 194194. Web.

Akpunonu, B., Hummell, J., Akpunonu, J. D., & Ud Din, S. (2022). Capsule endoscopy in gastrointestinal disease: Evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 89(4), 200211. Web.

Bessant, J., & Tidd, J. (2015). Innovation and entrepreneurship (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

European Patent Office, (n.d.). Making gastrointestinal diagnostics easier to digest. Www.epo.org. Web.

Kerr, S. P., Kerr, W. R., & Xu, T. (2018). Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature. Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 14(3), 279356. Web.

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