Over the past decade, the global health innovation pipeline has significantly expanded with promising products and technologies aimed at alleviating disease burdens and addressing unmet health needs in under-resourced settings. However, the path to scale for these products remains difficult with numerous challenges along the way. This guide, part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Center for Accelerating Impact and Innovation’s (CII’s) "Idea to Impact” series, aims to help innovators still in the early stages of product development begin to consider what their “pathway to scale” might look like – specifically, the series of business model and partnership choices they must make to access the capabilities and resources to achieve scale. Understanding the possible options early on and making a deliberate decision at the right times can greatly enhance the chance of achieving the broadest impact down the road.

This guide:

• Introduces a few of the most commonly found models for scaling up global health innovations, describes the feasibility requirements for each, and the implications for innovators.
• Features case studies that highlight and explain pathways taken by innovators that have begun to scale up.
• Offers a toolkit with exercises, structured questions and key considerations, along with curated resources that innovators can use to select the most suitable pathways for their own innovations.

Questions or comments? Please email us at cii@usaid.gov.