science

User innovation

User innovation is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand User innovation rather than just read about it. In short: User innovation refers to innovation by intermediate users (e.g. user firms) or consumer users (individual end-users or user communities), rather than by suppliers (producers or manufacturers). This is a concept closely aligned to co-design and co-creation, and has been proven to result in more innovative solutions than traditional consultation methodologies.

Key takeaways

User innovation belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect User innovation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of User innovation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

User innovation refers to innovation by intermediate users (e.g. user firms) or consumer users (individual end-users or user communities), rather than by suppliers (producers or manufacturers). This is a concept closely aligned to co-design and co-creation, and has been proven to result in more innovative solutions than traditional consultation methodologies. Eric von Hippel and others observed that many products and services are actually developed or at least refined, by users, at the site of implementation and use. These ideas are then moved back into the supply network. This is because products are developed to meet the widest possible need; when individual users face problems that the majority of consumers do not, they have no choice but to develop their own modifications to existing products, or entirely new products, to solve their issues. Often, user innovators will share their ideas with manufacturers in hopes of having them produce the product, a process called free revealing. However, user innovators also generate their own firms to commercialize their innovations and generate new markets, a process called "consumer-led market emergence." For example, research on how users innovated in multiple boardsports shows that some users capitalized on their innovations, founding firms in sports that became global markets. Based on research on the evolution of Internet technologies and open source software Ilkka Tuomi (Tuomi 2002) further highlighted the point that users are fundamentally social. User innovation, therefore, is also socially and socio-technically distributed innovation. According to Tuomi, key uses are often unintended uses invented by user communities that reinterpret and reinvent the meaning of emerging technological opportunities. The existence of user innovation, for example, by users of industrial robots, rather than the manufacturers of robots (Fleck 1988) is a core part of the argument against the Linear Innovation Model, i.e. innovation comes from research and development, is then marketed and 'diffuses' to end-users. Instead innovation is a non-linear process involving innovations at all stages.

History In 1986 Eric von Hippel introduced the lead user method that can be used to systematically learn about user innovation in order to apply it in new product development. In 2007 another specific type of user innovator, the creative consumer was introduced. These are consumers who adapt, modify, or transform a proprietary offering as opposed to creating completely new products. User innovation has a number of degrees: innovation of use, innovation in services, innovation in configuration of technologies, and finally the innovation of novel technologies themselves. While most user innovation is concentrated in use and configuration of existing products and technologies, and is a normal part of long term innovation, new technologies that are easier for end-users to change and innovate with, and new channels of communication are making it much easier for user innovation to occur and have an impact. Recent research has focused on Web-based forums that facilitate user (or customer) innovation - referred to as virtual customer environment, these forums help companies partner with their customers in various phases of product development as well as in other value creation activities. For example, Threadless, a T-shirt manufacturing company, relies on the contribution of online community members in the design process. The community includes a group of volunteer designers who submit designs and vote on the designs of others. In addition to free exposure, designers are provided monetary incentives including a $2,500 base award as well as a percentage of T-shirt sales. These incentives allow Threadless to encourage continual user contribution.

See also

Footnotes

Sources Bilgram, Volker; Brem, Alexander; Voigt, Kai-Ingo (September 2008). "USER-CENTRIC INNOVATIONS IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT — SYSTEMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF LEAD USERS HARNESSING INTERACTIVE AND COLLABORATIVE ONLINE-TOOLS". International Journal of Innovation Management. 12 (3): 419–458. doi:10.1142/S1363919608002096. Bogers, Marcel; Afuah, Allan; Bastian, Bettina (July 2010). "Users as Innovators: A Review, Critique, and Future Research Directions". Journal of Management. 36 (4): 857–875. doi:10.1177/0149206309353944. Braun, Viktor R.G. (2007): Barriers to user-innovation & the paradigm of licensing to innovate, Doctoral dissertation: Hamburg University of Technology Fleck, James (1988), "Innofusion or Diffusation? The nature of technological development in robotics", Edinburgh PICT Working Paper No. 7 Nambisan, Satish; Nambisan, Priya (2008), "How to Profit from a better Virtual Customer Environment", MIT Sloan Management Review: 53–61 Tuomi, Ilkka (2002), Networks of Innovation, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-925698-3 von Hippel, Eric (2005), Democratizing Innovation, MIT Press von Hippel, Eric (July 1986). "Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts". Management Science. 32 (7): 791–805. doi:10.1287/mnsc.32.7.791. Williams, Robin; Edge, David (September 1996). "The social shaping of technology". Research Policy. 25 (6): 865–899. doi:10.1016/0048-7333(96)00885-2. Faulkner, Philip; Runde, Jochen (July 2009). "On the Identity of Technological Objects and User Innovations in Function". Academy of Management Review. 34 (3): 442–462. doi:10.5465/amr.2009.40632318.

External links New York Times on User Innovation (2007) New York Times on User Innovation (2005) Archived 2013-04-11 at the Wayback Machine Eric Von Hippel's books on user innovation, available under the creative commons license. Innovation Culture VisionX The Contribution Revolution wiki collects information about user contribution systems in the business world. It is based on the Harvard Business Review article of the same name by Scott Cook

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with User innovation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what User innovation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to User innovation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about User innovation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of User innovation

In research: User innovation appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses User innovation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: User innovation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Innovation, Science and technology studies, User interfaces, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for User innovation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study User innovation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what User innovation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain User innovation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is User innovation in simple terms?

Why does User innovation matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study User innovation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on User innovation.