User innovation

Abstract

PurposeProvides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsHighlighted by the Harvard Business Review list of 20 Breakthrough ideas for 2007, user‐centred innovation, based on the concept of lead users, takes a fundamentally different approach to product innovation to that practiced in most organisations. It is based on the research by Eric von Hippel, MIT, which found that many commercially important products are initially thought of and even prototyped by product users (lead users) rather than manufacturers. In recognising this, the lead user process can transform the difficult job of generating product and service “breakthroughs” into a systematic task of tracking down especially promising lead users and adapting and developing their ideas to a business's needs. The approach, which 3M has found to generate project ideas that deliver sales eight times higher than those generated by contemporaneous traditional projects, is now not only taking hold within industry, and within user communities, but it has got to the point where governments are getting involved.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.