Innovation through Design Thinking

The speech given by Tim Brown covered the theory of innovation through design thinking. A large part of his theory surrounded the fact that customers have to be happy with the experience, with the products and services that come together; to not fully focus on the end product. Design is the fabric of our lives and has a huge impact on our desires, wants and needs.  As Timothy Brown discussed, design "can be used to tackle a whole range of creative and business issues".  By doing this you gain a strong competitive advantage over others in your industry. You set yourself apart from others and you make your company stronger. By using knowledge management you not only support yourself but you create an area where "Design Thinkers" can come and create new innovative ideas. Design Thinking is made up of basic three entities: People (desirable), Business (viable) and Technology (feasible).  Designers create things that they believe the world needs.  They try and look from people's points of views and have empathy towards those experiences.  Brown shows the overlapping of the three in which there are some interesting attributes that develop.  The overlapping of Business and People gives the designer the ability to create Emotional Innovation used in marketing and branding.  The overlapping of Technology and People gives the ability to have Industrial Innovation.  Lastly, the intersection of Technology and Business gives the ability of Process Innovation.  Inspiration, ideation and implementation are three phases that Brown discussed as being part of the innovation process. 

Democratizing Innovation

Eric von Hippel offers multiple examples where an ordinary user solves a problem through innovation instead of relying on a manufacturer to produce a solution. His research found innovative users creating improvements to mountain bikes, library IT systems, agricultural irrigation, and scientific instruments. Often it is the person  that uses the product everyday that is best able to offer criticism and tips on how to improve the product. With these common issues user communities arise, freely communicate with each other, advance ideas and sometimes even “drive the manufacturer out of product design.” The knowledge base that is created by the users helps to improve and create a product that is most likely superior to anything a single manufacturer could produce itself. This widely distributed inventing practice is a good trend because users tend to make things that are functionally novel. Not only is it “freeing for individuals” but it also creates a large knowledge base. Below is a brief outline of the speech given in the video.

Democratizing Innovation

I. Users innovate for themselves

            A. Turns innovation economics on its head

            B. go behind the scenes

II. 80% of innovations came from users instead of manufacturers

            A. Mt St. Helens dust in police cars

            B. center-pivot irrigation

III. User vs Manufacturer Innovation

            A. developer expects to benefit by using it

            C. when the developer expects to benefit by selling it

IV. Necessity is the mother of invention

V. Lead Users

            A. have needs to that foreshadow general demand

            B. expect to obtain high benefit

VI. Lego Mindstorms

            A. hackers

            B. sales rise

VII. Users often freely reveal their innovations

            A. kite surfing example

            B. Community design better than engineers

VIII Users aren't smart enough / Skateboard

IX. Video / Lords of Dogtown