Duration
January 2008 to July 2011

Description
Empirical studies since the 1980ies have shown that users are a very important external source of innovation. However, most of the research on user innovation has been conducted on the basis of case and small-sample studies exploring specific product and process innovations as the main unit of analysis. The purpose of this research project is thus to provide broader empirical evidence on the relationship between interacting with users during the innovation process and firm innovation performance.

Findings from this research project should shed further light on how pervasive and economically important external end users' knowledge is as an input to firm innovation. Reported results should also help managers and policy makers to better assess and manage the innovative input of external end users.

Specific questions that drive the research project are:
What are plausible explanations for a positive relationship between cooperating with external end users and firm innovation performance?
How can we capture and model the impact of end users knowledge on the innovative capacity of firms?
What are the relationships between cooperating with end users in the process of innovation and innovative output?
How can managers and policy makers adapt their actions to benefit from end users' knowledge for the purpose of innovation?

Intended results of the project are (1) to gain a better understanding of how pervasive end user innovation is with respect to innovative output of firms, (2) to provide managers and policymakers with appropriate tools to analyse the efficiency and efficacy of interventions and (3) to assess modes of systematic interaction with end users to benefit from their innovative capacity.