Companies have started involving users at an earlier stage in the innovation process. Companies are observing users to understand what problems they face and need solved, and are including users at the beginning of the innovation process. By carefully planning user involvement in the innovation process, companies get access to user knowledge which can be crucial for developing new concepts and market-shaking innovations.

Until recently, users were mainly involved in the later stages of the innovation process e.g. testing prototypes – often once the product was close to being ready for sale and marketing. This often involved forming focus groups to hear customers’ opinions of products, or asking users to test prototypes and products.

‘Users’ can be other companies or end users. In some cases a company will interact with other companies to gain knowledge on what solutions should be created, while in other cases a company will involve the end-user in the development of the solution.

In order to obtain the often hidden knowledge users posses, they might be involved either indirectly in the innovation process (e.g. through user observations and user experiments), or they might be directly involved in innovating for the company (e.g. as lead users).