via IDSA …

Ever picked up a device and thought with just a little tweaking, it could be even better? (Of course you have; that’s why you’re designers, right?) Well, even non-designers have good ideas: The New York Times examines the concept of user-driven innovation, the value of letting users of products modify them or improve them, because they may come up with changes that manufacturers never considered. MIT professor Eric von Hippel, a leading advocate of user-driven innovation, says that by harnessing this concept, companies can develop products more quickly and inexpensively than with their internal design teams. Still not convinced? Consider this: 82 percent of new capabilities for scientific instruments like electron microscopes were developed by users.

Read the NY Times article

Posted by: Justin Knecht

This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 9:53 am and is filed under Article, Co-Creation, User-Centered Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.