Hassan Chaudhury believes that herein lies the rub. He explains to Lara Mott and Na’eem Ahmed why you not only need to own the problem you’re trying to solve, but you also have to distance yourself from it to get perspective. And always listen to the data.

If anyone knows the lay of the land, it’s Hassan Chaudhury. Not only does he promote the UK Digital Health sector abroad at Healthcare UK – a joint initiative of the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Department for International Trade (DIT) – but he is also part of the commercial team at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, a member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Innovation Committee, the PM Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Healthcare Sector Executive Committee, and holds an Honorary Research post at Imperial College London for his work in data science.

But he hasn’t always been so deeply embedded in the system. Hassan admits that when he was an entrepreneur, he didn’t use the resources that he now promotes (‘I was a complete lone wolf’). He learnt his lesson. Now he helps the healthcare sector export and encourages innovators to come to the UK in what he calls a ‘matchmaker’ role, which builds propositions.

“Before you scale, you've got to get your hands dirty, you've got to know what that problem is… [to] sit there in the dirt. And only then when you feel that problem and understand it, can you scale it. And in healthcare, that's multi-faceted,” he says.

We also discover what this self-confessed data geek thinks about evidence and impact – “It's not just what was happening in the lab. It’s about the deployment. And that's where I see the future.”

In the discussion, we consider:

• How do we work out what is good innovation?
• If you don't have real-world evidence, how can you prove the value of interventions?
• Why it’s crucial that we stop making the same mistakes.
• Why we need to make the system more conducive to the adoption of innovation.
• Is there just too much data?

Hassan’s frank and illuminating answers will help innovators at every level think about how they approach system. And hear a Small but Mighty idea that really turns the tables.

Learn more about ImproveWell

Connect with Na’eem and Lara on LinkedIn

Follow Hassan on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.