Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1. Technology environment: actors continuously interacting on techno-
logical issues and milestones of development (scientists and differ-
ent actors in the industry)
2. Regulatory environment: standard setting regulatory bodies, and
local, national, and international regulation environment
3. Wider society: consumer organizations, environmental groups, pub-
lic opinion leaders, media, and independent scientists
It is evident that eventually alignments with all layers are necessary for
societal embedding to take place. Yet managers fail to deal with them in a
sequential manner. In contrast, what often happens is that clarifying func-
tional aspects of the product are addressed first before addressing broader
(societal) aspects.
To recapitulate, there might be a general agreement on the significance
of technologies, but the world that is expected to adopt such products to
be developed has a comparing and selecting position (Garud and Ahlstrom
1997). Besides, promises are used to bridge the gaps along the innovation
chain as the infrastructure for their realization does not exist. As the prom-
ise travels to society in the early stages of development, different stakehold-
ers speculate on the future arrangement of actors and their own position in
particular within that future scenario. For instance, a researcher in academia
link up to such goals with a broader interest to attract resources, produce new
knowledge, and acquire reputation and credibility within their specialized
field. Governments stimulate developments that promise economic prospect
while at the same time having to account for effective and safe medical sys-
tems for the general public. Industrial actors and medical device manufac-
turers recognize the opportunity of new health markets and embrace these
trends to develop and strengthen their resilient position in these emerging
markets to enhance prosperity. Furthermore, there are different perspectives
advocated about the organization of care practices by the medical commu-
nity in general, patient organizations, and health-care insurance companies.
Disagreements on prospective roles and responsibilities based on expecta-
tions might eventually hamper societal embedment of the envisioned prod-
ucts to be developed. This emphasizes the need for an approach that aims to
anticipate on broader aspects in early stages of technology development than
just focusing on the technological functionalities.
Our approach recognizes that the take-up of what is available and (par-
tial) materialization of technological options coevolves with the changes in
the health-care sector, and the role and responsibilities of different actors
involved. Emphasizing that the societal embedment of the BAN concept in
health care is also very much dependent on its social context (cf. how actors
in practice accept changes to their roles, tasks, responsibilities, and mutual
relationships), it is also necessary to consider the care arrangements within
which the BAN concept operates and include that in our prospective analysis.
