In the mid 1990s, Intel began experiencing that their technological innovations did not result in the expected sales. Intel decided to establish two new departments that would focus on understanding users’ unacknowledged and unsatisfied needs.

Intel established two departments within Intel Research in Portland, which focus on understanding users’ needs. The purpose of the first department (People and Practices Group) is to participate in forming Intel’s long term strategy, while the purpose of the second department (User-Centred Design Group) is to focus on specific product development in the short term. The two departments have expanded within the last decade, and today they employ more than 40 ethnographic researchers, as well as psychologists and designers. The working methods are mainly based on ethnographic practices such as observations of users, in-depth interviews, videos and photography.

Intel’s new departments have participated in several new product innovations and platforms. One example is the home PC made for the Chinese market. Based on the ethnographic insights, Intel was able to develop a PC aimed at educating Chinese children which their parents could control. In 2004, the PC was awarded the China Design Excellence Award.

The ethnographic researchers are increasingly being recruited from Intel’s two user-driven innovation departments to the rest of Intel’s research departments such as within Digital Home, Digital Health, Consumer Research/Emerging Markets and Mobility Group.

Source: FORA #12 (2005).

For more details on this case, contact FORA at FORA@newnatureofinnovation.org.