 |
Courtesy
of Coloplast A/S
Sten Schiebye, CEO of Coloplast |
Denmark produces more medical devices per capita
than any other country in the world. It may seem
peculiar, that little Denmark could be the home
of large medical device producers like Novo Nordisk,
Coloplast, Oticon, B&O Medicon and Ambu. However,
the fact that Danish companies specialize in medical
devices is no fluke.
Healthcare is a top priority in Denmark; 20 percent
of seed capital goes to life sciences as compared
to only 5 percent in the rest of the European Union.
Denmark is also synonymous with design. The Danish
style of design is only partly expressed through
the product’s aesthetic value, it also serves
to solve a problem in an effective way. So why shouldn’t
the two skills, design and healthcare, be combined?
The Crown Prince of design
Coloplast is a world leader in ostomy, urology,
and continence care. It also creates top of the
line products in wound and breast care. Coloplast
enters intimate situations to give patients their
lives back through innovative products. "Our
patients are often dealing with a hidden handicap
and depend on us to develop well designed, clinically
efficient, clean, and subtle products," said
Coloplast CEO Sten Scheibye. For the patients, subtly
is imperative and they are grateful to have the
concern of Coloplast. The company’s catheters
and urisheaths, for example, have been packaged
to imitate a lipstick tube for women or a floss
box for men. "The subtle design eliminates
a potential of source of embarrassment for our users,"
said Scheibye.
Building on history
Coloplast has a history of innovation and compassion.
The company was founded on an invention by Nurse
Elise Sorensen who created the world’s first
ostomy bag as a solution for her sister’s social
and physical limitations incurred from colostomy
surgery. Rather than accept the inadequate 1950’s
devices that were neither leak proof nor odor free,
Sorensen resolved to find a solution. Nurse Elise
Sorensen’s vision in 1957 laid down the basis
for Coloplast. No one wanted to manufacture the
new product. Not even Coloplast’s founder,
Aage Louis Hansen. But his wife, Johanne, who was
a trained nurse, immediately understood the potential
of the new ostomy bag and she persuaded her husband
to take on the production. "Nurse Sorensen
was determined to find a solution for her sister
and in turn came up with a break through innovation
that has changed the lives of millions. Although
break-through innovations are challenging, we strive
for them as they typically have the greatest return,"
said Scheibye.
 |
 |
Courtesy
of Coloplast A/S
Samples of Coloplast’s subtle design |
Creative strategy
The creation of products that are comfortable, effective,
and subtle is not a simple task, but is a large
focus of the company. "It is our goal that
20 percent of Coloplast’s turnover should derive
from products that have been introduced during the
last four years," said Scheibye. The company
works toward this goal by remaining close to their
customers. "Much of our product development
is guided by our users. We rely on doctors, nurses
and patients to uncover troublesome elements so
that we can improve or recreate our products,"
said Scheibye. Coloplast not only gets direct user
advice but also watches videotapes of users and
then seeks out engineers, anthropologists, psychologists
and designers to create new products. This strategy
of care, innovation, and design has helped Coloplast
to grow from a small Danish company in 1957 to a
global leader in the production of medical products,
with approximately 7300 employees and subsidiaries
in 25 countries. Their products have become the
Rolls Royce of medical care. A customer may very
well carry around a Coloplast Catheter, which resembles
a floss box, and not fear that it will be spotted
in his pocket. It is that discreet and that stylish.
Innovative space:
"We wanted a fun space that would encourage
creative thought," said Scheibye. The artists
that designed the inspiration room, titled "the
colon," definitely had fun on the agenda. The
place where Coloplast innovators create is not your
typical office. In order to break out of habitual
thinking "the colon" explodes with color,
it has an icy blue cave for a kitchen that is connected
to the meeting room via arched beams that jut out
and reach from the ceiling to the floor. The meeting
table is glass filled with toys that meeting participants
can use as descriptors. The room also has 35 very
personal plastic stools, each molded match the shape
of the 35 different pairs of buttocks in the office.
In short, there are not straight lines to foster
linear thinking; unusual; unusual shapes, colors,
and textures are meant to appeal to all areas of
the brain in order to keep Coloplast’s creative
team at its peak.
|
DENMARK
