Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation

Close

Courtesy James Neeley

Name
Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation
Client
Mayo Clinic
Date
2008
Disciplines
  • Service Design

The legendary Mayo Clinic hosts the Center for Innovation, which is dedicated to improving healthcare for its patients and staff as well as fostering a culture of innovation within the organization. The predecessor to the Center for Innovation was the SPARC Lab (See-Plan-Act-Refine-Communicate), the first design studio within a medical practice setting to identify and solve problems using methods and techniques associated with design thinking, a methodology promulgated by design consultancies such as IDEO. In addition to visualizing, modeling, and prototyping possible solutions, SPARC also employs traditional consumer research approaches as well as ethnographic research methods, including observing and interviewing patients, families, and healthcare workers.