CH18 - The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction

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Chapter

18

Open User Innovation by Eric von Hippel.

A

lmost 30 years ago, researchers began a systematic study of innovation by end users and user firms. At that time, the phenomenon was generally re-

garded as a minor oddity. Today, it is clear that innovation by users, generally openly shared, is a very powerful and general phenomenon. It is rapidly growing due to continuing advances in computing and communication technologies. It is becoming both an important rival to and an important feedstock for producercentered innovation in many fields. In this chapter, I provide an overview of what the international research community now understands about this phenomenon.

18.1  Introduction Ever since Schumpeter (1934) promulgated his theory of economic development, economists, policymakers and business managers have assumed that the domi-


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