Sep 12, 2019 07:05 PM
https://theconversation.com/most-innovat...ies-122663
EXCERPT: The mountain bike wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for disgruntled customers. [...] And the GoPro camera only exists because its creator, Nick Woodman, wanted to take photos of himself while surfing. [...] These are just two examples among many of customers – rather than research and development teams at large firms – driving innovation.
The share of user innovation varies by sector, but in some fields, such as kayaking equipment, off-label drug therapy and mobile banking services more than 50% of all innovations originate with the users of the products themselves. Another study found that 6.1% of the UK population had created a product from scratch or modified an existing product. Each of these people invested £1098 on average each year in these projects. [...] Despite this, the role of ordinary people in innovation is largely overlooked. A recent study in Germany asked managers and politicians to estimate the respective share of different sources of innovation – producer firms, universities and the users of products themselves – in nine different fields, including scientific instruments, medical apps and windsurfing equipment. They underestimated the share of user innovation by more than half. (MORE - details)
EXCERPT: The mountain bike wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for disgruntled customers. [...] And the GoPro camera only exists because its creator, Nick Woodman, wanted to take photos of himself while surfing. [...] These are just two examples among many of customers – rather than research and development teams at large firms – driving innovation.
The share of user innovation varies by sector, but in some fields, such as kayaking equipment, off-label drug therapy and mobile banking services more than 50% of all innovations originate with the users of the products themselves. Another study found that 6.1% of the UK population had created a product from scratch or modified an existing product. Each of these people invested £1098 on average each year in these projects. [...] Despite this, the role of ordinary people in innovation is largely overlooked. A recent study in Germany asked managers and politicians to estimate the respective share of different sources of innovation – producer firms, universities and the users of products themselves – in nine different fields, including scientific instruments, medical apps and windsurfing equipment. They underestimated the share of user innovation by more than half. (MORE - details)