Abstract:

Innovation Research Communities are an instrument to combine the approaches of user co-creation in new product development with marketing research in an online environment. Users are not only asked about their opinions, wishes and needs but are also invited to contribute their creativity and problem solving skills by generating new product ideas and concepts. Research data is gathered by tracking the product configuration of users and by having the user designs evaluated and enriched by other users. The Innovation Research Community is introduced in a case study of the Swarovski Enlightened Watch Design Contest.