Early-stage innovators: Submit ideas to Pathfinder

VA is calling on early-stage innovators to participate in the Greenhouse Initiative utilizing VA Pathfinder as the front door to innovation at VA.

VA’s Innovators Network’s (iNET’s) Greenhouse Initiative launched in 2020, recognizing the potential for early-stage innovation collaboration. The Greenhouse is an opportunity for the health care innovation community to collaborate with frontline employees at iNET sites throughout the country to co-design innovative solutions.

Next came VA Pathfinder, an online platform to help external partners navigate the process of selling or collaborating with VA. By improving the experience of companies and organizations that seek to do business and innovate with VA, Pathfinder ensures Veterans have access to the best care through state-of-the-art products, services and innovations.

Access to the Greenhouse via Pathfinder

VA Pathfinder makes it simple for early-stage external innovators to collaborate with iNET through the Greenhouse Initiative. Potential collaborators can visit Pathfinder, answer a series of questions targeting innovators at the discovery and/or prototyping phases of design and connect directly with iNET staff.

Through the Greenhouse, collaborators will then share early-stage innovative product designs to receive invaluable end-user feedback from Veteran and employee stakeholders. They could develop a functional prototype, further refine existing prototypes and conduct small-scale product user experience testing with appropriate end-users within the VHA.

Recognition for the impact of Pathfinder

Pathfinder is already making waves both within and outside VA. External organizations now have access to Pathfinder and the resources it provides, providing a digital front door to innovation.

“In order for VA to provide the highest quality care to Veterans, we must engage many more collaborators in innovation,” said Suzanne Shirley, director of Community Engagement at VA’s Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning. “By creating a national repository where cutting edge solutions can be explored in relation to the most pressing problems, we offer a more accessible and transparent opportunity for VA to accelerate innovation and deliver value to the customers we serve.”

Shirley is one of this year’s “Leading for Impact, Women in Leadership Award” winners after being nominated by her peers and selected by a panel of leaders from across the Federal IT sector. Her contributions to Pathfinder are one of the reasons she was nominated.

As Pathfinder grows, VA hopes to see it become a place where VA and Veteran-focused communities can share important information and solve Veterans’ most pressing problems together. A place, in other words, that is sure to have impact.

Do you have an early-stage idea?

Those who are at the co-design, co-develop and test stages of the innovation lifecycle are ideal collaborators for the Greenhouse Initiative. Innovators who are in these stages should submit their idea to VA Pathfinder where their submission will be reviewed to see if it meets current VA needs.

Visit Pathfinder’s website to learn how you can work and innovate with VA.

Read more here on how the Greenhouse Initiative is collaborating with the innovation community at the earliest stages of innovation to receive input from Veterans and employees.

If you want to share your voice, sign-up to join the Innovation Community.

Other ways to get involved in innovating the future of health care:

• Check out the VHA Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE) website.
• Subscribe to VHA IE’s weekly emailer.