Competitive advantage at low risk.
Why you should care about user innovation.
In years past, companies and policymakers alike viewed innovation in linear terms. More and better R&D led to better and more profitable products and services. Today, it is broadly understood that innovation is NOT a linear process, but rather a product of interactions between various stakeholders. Increasingly, innovation policy is focusing on facilitating and strengthening these linkages between stakeholder groups (e.g. public-private partnerships and cluster promotion programmes, university-industry linkages through technology parks and spin-off programmes, match-making initiatives, etc.).
Much policy focus has been given to supporting science and engineering education, and research related to high-tech sectors. But it is increasingly apparent that focusing solely on research-driven innovation will not secure a competitive advantage in the longer-term. Considering the incredibly large pool of talented scientists and engineers in lower-cost countries (e.g. China and India), it appears that technology is quickly turning into a commodity.
Countries understand that international competitiveness cannot solely rely on large numbers of technically-skilled human resources and global prominence in high-tech sectors. There is an increasing understanding of the importance of creative/design skills, business/marketing skills…and the ability to mix these competencies to better meet consumers’ needs.
Furthermore, companies are seeking new ways of increasing innovation “hit rates”. R&D is expensive, and many innovation investments fail to reap envisaged rewards. For small companies, in particular, high risk and financial investment are primary barriers to innovation. In this region, where SMEs represent between 95 and 99% of all companies, it is especially important not only to help these companies undertake innovation investments, but also to help them realize their innovation potential.
User-driven innovation methods can be employed to do this.