The HealthTech sector is a rapidly evolving industry with driving developments, such as the digitalisation, which offer opportunities for firms to transform the delivery of healthcare. It is therefore vital for SMEs in HealthTech to systematically anticipate changing developments in the business environment to remain competitive. Hence, this research addresses this critical business challenge by examining the foresight practices that enable entrepreneurs to address uncertainty and to seize commercial opportunities. It is evident that without systematically implementing foresight, the growth and commercialisation of a venture present core challenges for entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This research aims to provide insight into the foresight practices that are utilised by entrepreneurs in HealthTech to perceive future opportunities. Furthermore, this research intends to explore how entrepreneurs in HealthTech implement foresight practices to address different types of uncertainty to perceive tangible business opportunities. As future images illustrate possible futures to support organisations in navigating their decision-making, this research also intends to examine the role of future images in fostering opportunity recognition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking a closer look at the research design, there are two different phases. In the first phase, interviews with case companies in HealthTech are going to be conducted to examine the exact foresight practices they utilise at an operational level to validate new commercial opportunities. In the second phase, futures workshops are facilitated to construct future images of the HealthTech industry for the year 2035 to comprehend how future opportunities are perceived by entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings of this research aim to contribute to an enhanced understanding of how the implementation of foresight practices at an operational level could assist SMEs in realising how foresight could be effectively integrated into their workflow. The results of this study could be summarised in a Playbook as a toolkit to illustrate how to apply foresight to attain these best practices. An active approach could be taken by the SMEs to shape the future and thus increase the speed at which they are developing their innovations to obtain a favourable market position to withstand global competition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"