.png)
FUTURES DESIGN SPRINT
How might we leverage futures design to imagine new possibilities for healthcare in Canada, and build human-centred design capabilities
to move towards these
possible futures?
THE CHALLENGE
In the face of significant disruption within healthcare in Canada, our client approached us with a bold ask: to partner with their innovation team to imagine new possible futures for health and healthcare in Canada.
OUR APPROACH
Through strategic foresight and futures design, we developed a range of possible scenarios for different verticals: healthcare policy, the future of oncology, the future of patient engagement, and healthcare “moonshots” for a more ambitious and flourishing healthcare ecosystem in Canada.


With these visions of different possible futures, we convened healthcare leaders across Canada for a series of workshops to ideate possible actions that we might take to either optimize the opportunities being presented in that future, or mitigate the emerging risks.


After each workshop, we synthesized the outcomes and identified actions that should be taken today as well as guiding principles and additional insights pertinent to understanding the complexities of the health ecosystem in Canada.
THE OUTCOMES
Looking across all of the high priority actions, it became evident that our client needed to increase the innovation and human-centred design capabilities across their organization. As a result, we developed a video training series focusing on the six most critical and high potential capabilities for them to develop as an organization.
THE IMPACTS
Throughout our multi-year engagement, our client was able to develop new ways of thinking about the future, identify highest priority areas and actions to pursue that were aligned with their strategic priorities, and started to hone greater human-centred design and innovation capabilities across their organization.


As a result, this healthcare multinational company is more inspired and better equipped to move forward with the knowledge, insight, and tools that they need to thrive in the face of ongoing uncertainties and challenges of our healthcare ecosystem.
CLIENT RESPONSE
Working with OCAD U CO exceeded all of our expectations. The stereotypical image that comes to mind when you think of OCAD is artists with pink hair and paintbrushes, but OCAD U CO brought significant bench strength in terms of strategic thinking and innovative insights that helped guide our team and shape the strategies for each internal department that they worked with.
​
It has been an absolute pleasure to work with them and I can’t wait until our next project together!