Innovation in Healthcare Organizations: Empirical Evidence from Portugal

The main purpose of this chapter is to analyse innovation in organizations of the Portuguese healthcare sector, in order to identify its critical success factors. In this study, the authors followed a quantitative approach, combining statistical and documental analysis, through the Community Innovation Survey data analysis and processing, thus performing an exploratory, descriptive and transversal study. The healthcare sector reveals dynamism in introducing products that are new to the market and the company, mainly through a closed innovation process. External cooperation is preferably R&D-oriented, and there is low involvement of market agents in R&D activities, through partnerships. However, these are seen as an important source of information and organizations seek to meet their needs. Different types of organizations adopt different innovation strategies, depending on their market and current situation, which translates into a contextual innovation policy, in line with the current theoretical developments.