S1: #010: Royal Philips – Transforming the Future of Health
You don’t have to spend time in hospitals to be familiar with Philips products. Formed in 1891, originally Philips made light bulbs before expanding into consumer electronics. Now you can find the Philips nameplate on products ranging from domestic appliances and personal care to MRI and ECG systems.
You may not have noticed, but Philips has been making some significant changes to it’s strategy and structure recently. In May, it IPO’d it’s lighting business, spinning that company out to stand on it’s own, while the consumer lifestyle and healthcare divisions were merged into one. You can imagine this is a significant shift: when one of the world’s largest companies works to leverage it’s strengths in healthcare and consumer products, it’s time to take notice.
Philips makes great products. They are led by smart, tough management, and have excellent sales and support teams. But how do you take a 125 year old company, and reposition it to embrace the continuum of care from the home to the hospital?
In June, I spoke with Jeroen Tas and Hans Notenboom while I was in Amsterdam for the European e-Health Week. Jeroen is the CEO of Connected Care and Health Informatics. Hans is the Global Head of Digital at Philips Healthcare.
This episode is part of my conversation with Hans and was recorded live at the E-Health Week Conference in Amsterdam. Hans got his start in business informatics and has worked at Philips for the last eight years. He believes that health technology is not just about figuring out diagnosis and treatment, but also about ways it can incentivize a healthy lifestyle.
Together, we discuss some of the healthcare innovations Philips has created, and what Philips is doing to instill a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in their company culture. We also spoke about their new HealthSuite platform that they are opening up to developers, and how Philips is using its position to create medical grade solutions that work in the home as well as they do in the hospital.
Unfortunately some of the links we discussed during our conversation are no longer available.
Listen in as we discuss some of the great work the Philips company has been doing.
Today’s Topics:
- The new structure of the Philips organization
- Healthcare informatics at Philips
- Research and development at Philips
- Creating a culture of innovation and creativity
- Uses for the Health Suite application
- The importance of reliable data
- Adoption of technology by the older generation
