User Driven Innovation

Next in our Papers in Systems discussion series: “User Driven Innovation: a condensed version of Eric Von Hippel's course,” condensed and curated by Bracken Mosbacker

When: Monday, November 3, 2025, 1PM - 2PM Eastern Time (US/Canada) [19:00 - 20:00 CET]. The Zoom room will remain open until 2:30PM Eastern for informal discussion.

From time to time, we break from published papers, to read the transcript of an important lecture, a blog post that makes a valuable contribution to our understanding, and so forth. This time, the "paper" is the "Cliffnotes" of a series of lectures by von Hippel on user driven innovation and breakthrough products. The summary has links to video segments from the lectures.

Discussion will be led by Bracken Mosbacker.

CliffNotes: https://bracken.social/articles/user_driven_innovation/ Expect it to take about 30 minutes to watch the clips that Bracken has curated for us (linked from the "CliffNotes").

The full Lectures: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/15-356-how-to-develop-breakthrough-products-and-services-spring-2012/video_galleries/lecture-videos/ Note: these take about 2 hours to watch on 2x speed, but watching the full set is not required for the discussion.

Abstract

"This course is focused on the largest paradigm shift in the innovation process since the industrial evolution. It's a huge change. It's happening on your shift." - Eric von Hippel

Modern innovation is often seen as the result of large investment from corporations who are sharing their bold work with the world. This course shows how people just solving their own problems is the seed of real breakthroughs in many fields. This user-driven innovation can be fostered within communities of practice leading to systems of mutual benefit for both communities and companies.