10 INNOVATION AT RAYSEARCH
AN INNOVATION BUSINESS PUTS THE CUSTOMER FIRST Despite the ongoing flux arising from the COVID-19 restrictions, RaySearch has maintained its focus on long-term growth opportunities, releasing two new products at the end of 2020: the RayCommand®*treatment control system (TCS) and the RayIntelligence® oncology analytics and machine learning platform. For Deputy CEO Björn Hårdemark, it helps that core business functions adapted swiftly and effectively to the new model of remote working – though he’s already anticipating a return to face-to-face collaboration with colleagues and customers as RaySearch gears up for the move into its new RayLab headquarters later next year.
While the company has maintained impressive momentum in terms of production capacity over the past 12 months, it’s evident that Hårdemark and the senior management team are starting to miss those informal conversations and serendipitous connections that only happen when people spend time together in the same office – rather than on a video conference. “We’re an innovation business,” Hårdemark explains, “and while working remotely is fine for the regular day-to-day R&D activity, there is a dryness when it comes to brain-storming and working out genuinely innovative ideas. The new RayLab building presents a fantastic opportunity in this regard – a working environment hardwired to encourage internal collaboration and engagement with partners and customers.” COMMAND AND CONTROL Throughout 2021, Hårdemark and the RaySearch business development team are focused on building market visibility and engagement for the newly launched RayCommand and RayIntelligence – albeit with two very distinct customer segments. RayCommand, for example, is RaySearch’s first B2B software product and, as such, is being positioned as a general-purpose TCS to support new-entrant vendors in the radiotherapy equipment market. Put simply, RayCom* Subject to regulatory clearance in some markets.
mand offers unified management and control of key systems in the radiotherapy treatment room – the treatment machine, treatment couch, imaging systems and patient positioning devices. All of which translates into a more consistent user experience and enhanced workflow efficiency – regardless of the type of treatment machine. “RayCommand represents a logical division of labor and a significant market efficiency,” notes Hårdemark. “We’ve had a lot of interest already from alternative radiotherapy OEMs who are keen to integrate our TCS rather than build their own.” Their interest is not unexpected given that RayCommand is the result of a three-year R&D collaboration involving one of those alternative vendors – Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO), a UK-based developer of next-generation proton therapy systems. Like AVO, early-adopting customers can see that it makes little commercial sense to reinvent the wheel, with all the investment and resource that’s needed to develop a new TCS from scratch.
