The preliminary validation of practices of engagement in innovation platforms: towards understanding innovation platforms in healthcare

Innovation platforms (IPs) are significant drivers of innovation and change. By including diverse stakeholders as platform participants, IPs have the potential to address the challenges of the healthcare systems of developing countries while simultaneously empowering their participants. Forming part of ongoing research into healthcare IPs, the paper establishes the completeness and accuracy of Practices of Engagement (PoE) concepts by investigating how the concepts apply to a case study. The case of the Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP), a social innovation in healthcare initiative in Kenya, is considered. Using the innovation platform lens, the different stakeholders involved are identified and the interactions between them are investigated. It was found that the PoE concepts successfully describe these stakeholder interactions. The research contribution lies in identifying concepts to guide the IP stakeholders in their responsibility to interact with other stakeholders in a constructive manner towards achieving the platform's goals.