Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1171482
26.09.19 13 OPINION Tim Schweisfurth Most innovation originates from customers, not companies T he mountain bike wouldn't exist if it wasn't for disgruntled custom- ers. In the 1970s, some cyclists wanted to ride off-road but were let down by existing bikes that weren't suited to rugged terrain. ey adapted road bikes, fitting them with strong frames, motorcycle drum brakes and balloon tyres, and so the mountain bike was born. And the GoPro camera only exists because its creator, Nick Woodman, wanted to take photos of himself while surfing. He strapped a disposable camera to his wrist, but soon realised the limitations of this setup: the camera was too shaky and the casings weren't waterproof. He locked himself away and started work on a GoPro prototype. What began with a frustrating surf trip led to a company valued at USD$3 bil- lion at the initial public offering in 2014. ese are just two examples among many of customers – rather than re- search and development teams at large firms – driving innovation. e share of user innovation varies by sector, but in some fields, such as kay- aking equipment, off-label drug therapy and mobile banking services more than 50% of all innovations originate with the users of the products themselves. Another study found that 6.1% of the UK population had created a product from scratch or modified an existing product. Each of these people invest- ed £1098 on average each year in these projects. is amounts to total consumer in- vestments of £3.2 billion in improving and inventing new products – more than 1.4 times the annual £2.2 billion that UK firms spend on research and development of consumer products. With the rise of information technol- ogy and the internet, people can share their designs for free while 3D printing and public workshops lets people create them. Despite this, the role of ordinary peo- ple in innovation is largely overlooked. A recent study in Germany asked man- agers and politicians to estimate the re- spective share of different sources of in- novation – producer firms, universities and the users of products themselves – in nine different fields, including sci- entific instruments, medical apps and windsurfing equipment. ey underestimated the share of user innovation by more than half. Bottling untapped potential Why do some people innovate? Ac- cording to researcher Eric von Hippel, users spot problems with existing prod- ucts and new needs while using them in their daily lives. ey push the boundaries of what ex- isting products can do and realise that what's out there isn't good enough for what they want to do. Still, the study reports that user inno- vation is a largely invisible phenome- non because people rarely share their work. If their problem with the original product is solved, they usually stop. Not everyone sees that many other people might actually benefit from their innovations. Firms might later pick up these ideas or prototypes and develop a product around them before eventually selling it. After some years in the development pipeline, it's likely forgotten that the new product originated with a regular customer. Firms may hide the origin of user in- novation as they seek to protect their own intellectual property too. Our research suggests that an easy way to find and tap into user innovation is involving employees in product de- velopment who also use the firm's prod- ucts outside of work. ese people could be the tennis play- er who's employed by a racket firm or the gamer who works for a videogame developer. ese workers test these products in their own time and bring their ideas into the business. If the ingenuity of these people is then recognised and rewarded, then the business will learn to tap into the 50% of innovations that would otherwise re- main undiscovered. Tim Schweisfurth is Associate Professor for Technology and Innovation Management, at the University of Southern Denmark • theconversation.com