TRANSITION PATHWAYS TOWARDS USER-CENTRIC INNOVATION

Although various user-centric innovation concepts have proved successful in niche markets and specific industries, there is yet little understanding how these models may become more widely diffused in manufacturing industries. We apply an evolutionary economics perspective to explore possible transition pathways towards user-centric innovation paradigms. In order to understand not only the past but also possible future transition trajectories, we complement the co-evolution analysis with prospective elements such as scenario building and roadmapping. Using this combined approach, we identify possible future working configurations of user-centric innovation models and specify a number of diverse elements relevant on different levels of the transition arena. We argue that these insights can be used to define and set-up dedicated learning spaces for user-centric innovation. It is suggested that similar approaches may be useful for companies and policy actors to guide governance of change towards user-centric innovation models.

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