The objective of this chapter is to explore how health technology assessment (HTA) can best be used to steer socially needed innovation in health technologies. To that end it is essential to analyse the driving factors in the life cycle of health technologies, i.e. the factors that determine how they are created, developed, regulated, used and, eventually, finally discarded, as well as the roles
... [Show full abstract] and motivations of the key stakeholders in this process. The next step is to design and implement the appropriate policies and institutional arrangements that provide the incentives required to ensure that the right amount and distribution of resources is applied to promote the development and use of new technologies that efficiently and equitably address existing social health needs. In order to do so, it is important to take a holistic approach that acknowledges the interactions between stakeholders and external factors in making the relevant decisions in the innovation process.