This paper describes a Global Health Innovation System (GHIS) based on research in innovations systems theory. This system would define how concerned countries and institutions could more effectively contribute to health care innovations, especially for the poor in developing countries. Such a system is needed because of the very rapid recent changes in global health innovation. Since the turn of the millennium, the Era of Partnerships has emerged. This era is characterized by the rise of product development public‐private partnerships and is also marked by increased networking, a trend that would benefit from greater coordination and the adoption of a range of best practices. With a comprehensive and compelling GHIS current resources could be allocated more efficiently and additional resources could be mobilized more readily. By integrating innovation with health systems and widened perspectives, the GHIS would help overcome a set of critical health failures: failures of science, failures of the market, and failures of public health systems. It would do so by providing valuable guidance in the planning and management of innovation at the global, regional, national, institutional, and sector levels. The paper concludes by demonstrating how a GHIS could address the health failures by applying the lessons of innovation studies in a structured framework.