Our research with university scholars, entrepreneurs, and investors revealed that the primary barriers to healthcare innovation implementation were structural and communicative, not just financial. Our research identified three critical user needs driving our design decisions. First, investors required efficient evaluation tools for quick go/no-go decisions with the option to gain in-depth insights. My team and I created a progressive disclosure framework revealing information in layers, matching the decision-making process. Second, innovators needed guidance through the commercialization process and connections to expertise, not just funding. They spent more time seeking funding than developing innovations, highlighting an efficiency gap. This inspired our ecosystem approach, connecting innovators with investors and service providers to navigate regulatory, manufacturing, and market entry challenges. Third, we needed to foster trust to ensure successful relationships between healthcare and innovation. This led to the development of trust touchpoints, micro-interactions, and interface elements, reinforcing credibility and security. These insights informed our core use cases: enabling investors to discover and evaluate innovations quickly, allowing innovators to present complex ideas effectively while protecting intellectual property, and helping service providers identify relevant opportunities early. Our design strategy focused on creating innovation velocity, reducing time and barriers between concept and implementation while balancing efficiency with thoroughness, simplicity with depth, and openness with security.

Our prototyping process began with collaborative design studios mapping out core user journeys for each persona. Wireframes underwent multiple iterations based on stakeholder feedback, focusing on the innovation submission process and investor discovery experience. We progressed to high-fidelity mockups, refining visual design while focusing on user needs. We went through multiple usability testing rounds with representatives from each user group. These sessions revealed investors valued clarity and efficiency, while innovators needed assurance of intellectual property protection. We refined our interface to streamline the evaluation process for investors while enhancing security features for innovators. Our implementation strategy focused on delivering an MVP addressing critical user needs. We prioritized features directly facilitating connections between innovators and investors, such as the innovation marketplace, secure data rooms, and communication channels. This strategy would enable the launch of an MVP platform that delivered immediate value while setting the stage for advanced features in future iterations.