Innovation class: the Innovation for Development initiative alias open/lead user innovation for good
Do you know where innovations come from? Have you heard before about open innovation or lead user/user driven innovation? Where can lead users be found? Is there more behind it or just a trendy word?
Open innovation is a way of managing R&D to make ideas and collaborations flow more freely and smoothy, and innovation proceed more quickly. Companies used to centralise their research in their own labs, but today many initiated and support open work to broad collaborations of companies, universities, research institutes and others. (1) The first “open innovator” was Henry Chesbrough.
Prof. Eric von Hippel established the term “lead user”already in 1986 for a special type of user of a product or service. Lead users are at the leading edge of important market trends and they have a strong incentive to find solutions. They often develop the new products and services they need for themselves, so they become user-innovators. Products developed by lead users often become the basis for important commercial products when lead user needs become mainstream. (2)
How you can identify lead users is a networking process. You have to find someone who is good at the area of the research — i.e. a really good tennis player, if you’re looking for new tennis products — and ask that person about his or her experience. But then also ask that person: Who knows more than you? Who’s seeing a worse problem than you are? Modifying your innovation system to help users innovate via toolkits, and then utilize free, pretested user designs, can improve producers’ success — and can insure users get what they want and can increase social welfare. It’s a good thing.” (3) Manufacturers offer user innovation toolkits for their lead users. Here (4) are some exampels.
There is a clear differentiation of the two above mentioned expressions: open innovation captures the (new) value while user innovation creates the (new) value. In the same time there are intentions to combine both as ditributed innovation. (5)
The Accelerating Innovation for Development initiative
The Rockefeller Foundation has among its projects the Accelerating Innovation for Develop
ment initiative, where it aims to explore if open and user-driven innovation models can be applied in development to solve social problems. The organization focuses on the following points:
-Testing the lead user innovation model for addressing social problems. Once this has been proved, the next step is:
-Encouraging NGOs and others focused on pro-poor innovation to use open innovation models to enhance efficiency and productivity in their work
-Â Scaling existing socially-focused and nonprofit innovation models
-Influencing and encouraging providers of innovation platforms to sustainably and systematically provide their services to the social sector (development organizations and social entrepreneurs)
The Foundation asks for the ongoing efforts of both providers and users to further demonstrate the effectiveness of socially focused or not-for-profit innovation models. It also wants to demonstrate the applicability of innovation process to solving social problems. “The organization will contribute to the development of effective interfaces to bridge the operational and cultural divide often separating the leading innovation service providers and the non-profit organizations and social enterprises best placed to apply their services to improving the lives of poor and vulnerable people.” (6)
There is still a question about who could be a lead user or participate in open innovation in this social development sphere. Will the most vulnerable be asked about their needs? Will it be monitored what can be the best innovation to realize in bigger scale? Will there be benchmarking among the best practices NGOs offer and implement?
It is possible to use the modern innovation instruments for a good cause. It requires time, enthusiasm and creativity from the lead users and openness and interest from the end-user.
References:
(1)Â http://bulletin.sciencebusiness.net/news/75615/7-ways-to-make-open-innovation-work-in-Europe
(3)Â http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2011-fall/53107/the-user-innovation-revolution/
(4)Â http://mit.edu/evhippel/www/papers/evh-05.htm
(5)Â http://www.open-innovation.net/blog/79-about-the-dispute-between-open-and-user-innovation.html
(6)Â http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/what-we-do/current-work/advancing-innovation-processes-solve/
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13 feb 2012
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