User Innovation Initiative

Institut für Entrepreneurship
und Innovation

INFORMATION ÜBER

INFORMATION FÜR

User Innovation Initiative

The User Innovation Research Initiative is a research program which aims to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon of user innovation and is hosted by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics & Business.

(User Innovation Initative Logo created by Peter Vandor)

THE PHENOMENON: MANY USERS INNOVATE

INITIATIVE LEADER

Nearly three decades of research into the sources of innovation, pioneered and still driven by Eric von Hippel (MIT), has revealed that users can be surprisingly creative and innovative. In many cases, the users themselves – and not manufacturers – are the originators of new products and services.

Empirical studies, for example in the fields of computers, petroleum processing, the semiconductor industry and many sports industries like snowboarding, windsurfing, or kayaking have shown that the most important innovations in the evolution of industries were originated by users.
User innovation is not a rare occurrence. The share of user innovators in the fields studied to date range from 10% (outdoor consumer products) to almost 40% (extreme sporting communities).
The advent of the internet has propelled user innovativeness, as it is now much easier for users to interact with other users. The results of such global user networks and communities include open source software or Wikipedia, to name just two examples.

Companies and academics alike are increasingly searching for ways to reclaim the territory of user innovation for innovation management and product development.

Some User Innovations:

Mountainbike Open Source Semiconductor Petroleum
Software Linux Industry Processing

Nikolaus Franke
WU Vienna

Christopher Lettl

WU Vienna

INITIATIVE MANAGER

Katharina Braun
WU Vienna
(for the area of research in User Communities)

THE FOCUS THEMES

The User Innovation Research Initiative aims to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon of user innovation. We search for patterns and mechanisms and, building on our insights, develop and improve practical methods in order to harness user innovativeness for companies. Our research is organized in four areas:

Ulrike Kaiser
WU Vienna
(for the area of Toolkit research)

LEAD USER RESEARCH

Innovative potential is concentrated among lead users. How can they be identified?

TOOLKITS

Companies can equip their customers with virtual tools which allow them to design their own product. How does this work?

Susanne Roiser
WU Vienna
(for the area of Lead User research)

INNOVATIVE USER COMMUNITIES

Users often form networks and informal groups - with highly innovative output. What can be learned from this?

USERS & ENTREPRENEURS

User innovators might themselves exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. How do they add to industry development?

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PARTNERS

Eric von Hippel
MIT Sloan

INTEREST IN COLLABORATION?

We are highly interested in collaborating with scholars as well as practitioners with an interest in one of the focus areas of our User Innovation Research Initiative.

For scholars: If you are interested in sharing your ideas, discussing and presenting your work, or launching joint projects please feel free to contact Nikolaus Franke (nikolaus.franke@wu-wien.ac.at) or one of the initiative managers (see side bar) for further information.
For practitioners: If you are interested in collaborating with or sponsoring the User Innovation Research Initiative group, there are many different ways to do so. Please feel free to contact either Nikolaus Franke (nikolaus.franke@wu-wien.ac.at) or one of the initiative managers (see side bar) for further information.

Christian Lüthje
Universität Bern

Frank Piller
RWTH Aachen


OUTSTANDING USER INNOVATION RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP Outstanding international researchers who want to visit and collaborate with the User Innovation Research Initiative group in Vienna are provided with office space and can apply for the 'Outstanding User Innovation Research Scholarship' in order to facilitate their stay.	Sonali K. Shah University of Washington

FURTHER RELEVANT LINKS

A 'cornerstone' book about user innovation is 'Democratizing Innovation' by Prof. Eric von Hippel (MIT). A free download is available at: http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books.htm

A collection of relevant research papers on user innovation is available at: http://userinnovation.mit.edu/

A collection of research papers on the phenomenon of open source software (innovative user communities) is available at: http://opensource.mit.edu/

A good website on mass customization (in German) is
www.mass-customization.de

A good website on open innovation (in German) is
www.openinnovators.de

Karim R. Lakhani
Harvard Business School

Marion Pötz
Copenhagen Business School

Reinhard Prügl
Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen

THE VIENNA TEAM

Univ. Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke	Univ. Prof. Dr. Christopher Lettl
Mag. Julia Bauer	Mag. Katharina Braun	Mag. Thomas Funke	Mag. Christopher Hader
Dipl.-Kfm. Stephan Jung	Mag. Ulrike Kaiser	Dr. Peter Keinz	Mag. Ilse-Maria Klanner
Mag. Katharina Klausberger	Mag. Stefan Perkmann-Berger, M.Econ	Mag. Florian Schirg	Mag. Antoinette Rhomberg
Mag. Susanne Roiser	Dr. Philipp Türtscher, lic.oec.HSG	Mag. Peter Vandor

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