Like the rest of the world , countries in the Middle East are facing an evergrowing number of healthcare challenges , from managing an ageing population to tackling mental health and inequity in access to healthcare and medicine to the rise of infectious diseases . We spoke with Simon Hill , CEO of Wazoku , to learn the best ways of approaching open innovation .

There ’ s no doubt about it – we are currently facing a global healthcare crisis , and the Middle East is no exception . People are living longer than ever , there is a growing mental health crisis , a shortage of healthcare professionals – exacerbated when healthcare workers leave the Middle East to work elsewhere – and infectious diseases are on the rise .

The Middle East is a highly diverse part of the world , with differing healthcare needs , priorities and resources across different countries . The UAE and KSA have made significant investments in healthcare systems and infrastructure , which has seen advances in facilities , services and expertise . Yet other countries have been unable to follow suit .

But despite these differences , many of the challenges are common across the region . That ’ s why there is a shift underway in how organisations are approaching finding solutions to these challenges .

Pandemic-based changes

This shift has been underway for a while but accelerated during the pandemic . This was one of the greatest ever threats to global health and finding a vaccine in time to minimise the worst effects of COVID-19 couldn ’ t have happened if individuals and organisations worked in silos .

We saw this first-hand when our client , the Swiss biopharmaceutical organisation Debiopharm , used our Open Innovation Crowd when it sought to find a single-dose version of a COVID-19 vaccine . It awarded two solutions that paved the way for singledose COVID-19 vaccinations that came to market less than half a year after the first two-dose vaccines .

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