Background
Hippel, Eric Arthur von was born on August 27, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Arthur Robert and Dagmar von Hippel.
(Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided...)
Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users—both individuals and firms—often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging system of user-centered innovation. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their innovations freely for the use of all. The trend toward democratized innovation can be seen in software and information products—most notably in the free and open-source software movement—but also in physical products. Von Hippel's many examples of user innovation in action range from surgical equipment to surfboards to software security features. He shows that product and service development is concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and whose innovations are often commercially attractive. Von Hippel argues that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and that they should systematically seek out innovations developed by users. He points to businesses—the custom semiconductor industry is one example—that have learned to assist user-innovators by providing them with toolkits for developing new products. User innovation has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be realigned to eliminate biases against it. The goal of a democratized user-centered innovation system, says von Hippel, is well worth striving for. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262002744/?tag=2022091-20
(It has long been assumed that new product innovations are...)
It has long been assumed that new product innovations are typically developed by product manufacturers, an assumption that has inevitably had a major impact on innovation-related research and activities ranging from how firms organize their research and development to how governments measure innovation. In this synthesis of his seminal research, von Hippel challenges that basic assumption and demonstrates that innovation occurs in different places in different industries. Presenting a series of studies showing that end-users, material suppliers, and others are the typical sources of innovation in some fields, von Hippel explores why this variation in the "functional" sources of innovation occurs and how it might be predicted. He also proposes and tests some implications of replacing a manufacturer-as-innovator assumption with a view of the innovation process as predictably distributed across users, manufacturers, and suppliers. Innovation, he argues, will take place where there is greatest economic benefit to the innovator.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195094220/?tag=2022091-20
Hippel, Eric Arthur von was born on August 27, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Arthur Robert and Dagmar von Hippel.
Bachelor, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964. Master of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966. Doctor of Philosophy, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 1973.
Doctor of Philosophy in economic (honorary), Ludwig Maximilans University, 2004. Doctor of Philosophy in Management (honorary), Copenhagen Business School, 2007.
Engineering manager Graphic Sciences, Inc, Danbury, Connecticut, 1966—1969. Consultant McKinsey and Company, New York City, 1970—1972. Professor Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, since 1973.
Head Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. President Lead User Concepts Inc, Cambridge, since 1996.
(It has long been assumed that new product innovations are...)
(Democratizing Innovation by Eric Von Hippel The MIT Press...)
(Democratizing Innovation Paperback Eric Von Hippel (Author))
(Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided...)
Married Jessie Roberta Janjigian. Children: Christiana Dagmar Jessie, Eric James.