Supportive Infrastructure for Innovation ◾ 103
to an individual to support early stage idea generation that might lead to break-
through innovation.
Similarly, Virginia Mason is also now exploring more formal support for the
lean concept of moonshine—creating physical prototypes and mock- up solutions to
problems in an offline laboratory. Moonshine labs, with supplies, equipment, and
engineers who can convert a concept or sketch into a working model, are common
in lean manufacturing companies like Toyota or Boeing. Such capability rarely
exists in a healthcare organization, but Virginia Mason is working to create it. e
current state of this work, and some practical examples, are described in more detail
in the next chapter.
Time will tell whet ...