The business practices of doing everything out in the open
Leonard Witt interviews Eric Von Hippel over AIM, also posted at his blog: PJNet.org
Eric von Hippel, who has literally shattered the iron walls around “innovation” and brought it to the realms of every man; every user, speaks to Leonard Witt on his concepts around lead user and free revealing. The MIT Sloan School of Management professor, whose highly acknowledged book, "Democratizing Innovation", talks of “users of products and services – both firms and individual consumers" _ innovating and developing the exact product that they want and then freely sharing the information, sharply contrasts this democratic process from the hitherto closed door world of manufacturing.
Von Hippel talks of people at the leading edges of important trends who will be experiencing needs today that the bulk of the market will experience tomorrow and argues that it may be better to freely reveal one's best ideas rather than keep them secret because one could cash in on them some day.
Leonard Witt: Your book "Democratizing Innovation" intrigues me because so much of it is counterintuitive. What does democratizing innovation mean?
Eric von Hippel: It means that users of products and services--both firms and individual consumers--are increasingly able to innovate for themselves.
Q: Can you give me an example?
A: Sure - it is easier today to design a custom integrated circuit (a field programmable logic devices or FPLD) for yourself - using sophisticated tools that are now available - than it was five years ago.
