User Innovation Communities

Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva:

"The concept of user innovation communities was introduced by (von Hippel 2001, 2005). He introduced the term to denote user innovation communities that function according to similar principles as open source software communities, but are not restricted only to software or information products, but can also incorporate user development of physical products. Thus, user innovation communities refer to a broader phenomenon compared to open source software communities. According to (Von Hippel 2005), user innovation communities are defined “… as meaning nodes consisting of individuals or firms interconnected by information transfer links which may involve face-to-face, electronic, or other communication. These can, but need not, exist within the boundaries of a membership group. They often do, but need not, incorporate the qualities of communities for participants, where ‘communities’ is defined as meaning networks of interpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, a sense of belonging, and social identity …”

von Hippel (2001) furthermore defines the basic preconditions necessary to be in place for a user community to be possible:

1) at least some users have sufficient incentive to innovate;

2) at least some users have an incentive to voluntarily reveal their innovations and the means to do so; and

3) user-led diffusion of innovation can compete with commercial production and distribution." (http://berlinsymposium.org/sites/berlinsymposium.org/files/crowdsourcingenabledinnovation.pdf)