Dr Mike Hardman began with some sobering facts about product development. The number of new pharmaceutical products brought to market worldwide has dropped since the late 1990s and in the worldwide pharmaceutical industry, only 3 out of every 10 marketed Rx drugs produce revenues that either match or exceed average R&D costs.

Within AstraZeneca successive employee surveys in 2000 -2002 showed that there was a drop in the percentage of employees who believed that they could receive recognition for innovation, could challenge the way things were done, or would dare to take initiative. Then changes were put in place.  An Achievement Award was introduced to recognise individuals and teams who developed innovative approaches and ideas for better products or ways of working. And Challenge Awards were introduced to recognise people who challenge the usual ways of doing things – people who have the courage to ‘just do it’. Then the Clinical Development Innovation Award was introduced to highlight behaviours that lead to creative, valuable thinking.

At the same time, all sorts of organisational barriers to creativity and innovation were removed – in some cases overnight.  The message from the top was:

Standardise where standardisation helps and use creativity and innovation for value added activities.

This meant stopping:- ‘lengthy and tedious debates’,  ‘creating new review bodies’ , ‘escalating paper wars’.

And starting to :

• Simplify planning
• Trust people – empowering teams
• Be open
• Support consultation during planning
• Develop risk management plans  

And the results so far?  Creative communities and external recognition by R&D Directors that the Company is ‘Best of the Best’ in 2004.  Which just goes to prove that creativity and innovation make a difference.