'The rise of the creative consumer' The Economist, Mar 10th 2005

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How and why smart companies are harnessing the creativity of their customers. Open-source software development is already well-known... the rise of online communities, together with the development of powerful and easy-to-use design tools, seems to be boosting the phenomenon [of user contributions to the evolution of products]. [Cites Eric Von Hippel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of 'Democratising Innovation'.] [Examples from the early auto industry, Lego Mindstorms, BMW and Electronic Arts.] Traditionally, firms have innovated by sending out market researchers to discover “unmet needs” among their customers... Harnessing customer innovation requires different methods.

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• Tags: empowerment, innovation, r&d, self-organisation, user trends, user-insight, it industry
• Saved by Nico Macdonald on January 10, 2007.
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