Users as Co-Inventors: A Model for Involving Users in the Early Stages of New Product Development

In aggregate terms, Ireland lags considerably behind other EU and OECD countries in terms of new product development activity and a major objective of national policy is to enhance product innovation through user involvement in the early stages of new product development (Forfas, 2004). Involving users in these initial stages (idea generation, and evaluation, preliminary assessment, concept formulating and testing) can provide firms with a competitive advantage through the provision of innovative and appealing new product concepts (Biemans, 1992). However, despite government initiatives to encourage greater user involvement in these critical stages, recent research has shown that many firms do not collaborate with their users during development and that the practice of actually involving users continues to pose a significant challenge (Lynch and O’ Toole, 2006). Currently the enhancers and inhibitors to successful user involvement have been explored, but a model of best practice to maximize this involvement has not.

Through in-depth case study, this research proposes to examine the interactions between a manufacturer and their users during the early stages of new product development with an expected outcome of a managerial model (planning and development) that will maximize involvement to enhance innovations. This research will make a significant contribution to the international discussion on effectively involving users in the early stages for enhanced provision of innovative ideas.