WisconsInnovation

Starting today (11/1) through November 11, Mitsubishi is offering customers the ability to test drive their all-new Outlander Sport vehicle. The real innovation comes in that Mitsubishi is allowing you to do this test drive, live, over the internet. The user is in complete control of the vehicle from the comfort of his/her own home. This experience is sure to be a very unique experience for buyers in the market for a new car. However, this is likely to serve as a purely promotional campaign as it is unlikely that this will replace real test driving. Check it out here

This would happen first in Wisconsin. A new brewery with ingredients coming from the surrounding community right here in Madison. Subscribing to be a community supported beer member (CSB) comes at a cost but will be well worth the money. What a beautiful innovation! Check out the article here

If Memorial Library's stacks aren't creepy enough, try hitting them up on Halloween eve (as I'm currently doing). Anyway, this online pumpkin carving site is pretty slick and allows users to order gifts with submitted designs on them. Happy Halloween, and yay to discounted candy at Walgreens tomorrow!

In lecture, we have discussed the various forms of user innovation and consumer involvement. We have explored the different forms of user innovation, engaged in our own user innovation and discussed the different processes in which we do participate in. However, what is the underlying reason as to why we do it? What are the motivations? In class we touched on this topic a bit, but this article explores it much more and gives different insights on this idea.

This article (by Johann Füller at the University of Innsbruck) discusses the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that consumers go through when participating in product development, as well as identifying eleven basic motivations felt by consumers. The article describes a study done to determine these motivations and outlines the results and their significance.

I found this article intriguing because I could identify with many of the motivations when I was completing my class exercises. As you read this article, think about what motivations you identified with most during the exercises you did (Jones Soda, Lego Design, Wikipedia, etc.). Enjoy!

Here's a really cool example (www.hitrecord.org) of open source innovation in the entertainment industry. It brings together artists of all kinds: actors, graphic artists, musicians, writers, composers, etc. This is just more proof that open source isn't just for software... it can be applied to anything! Check out a video below explaining the process and check out the website.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4834.html

I came across this article and thought that it would be extremely helpful for those people who are writing their Case Report about the Linux case. It's very relevant to our course material for this week.
Basically, the article highlights the benefits of both Microsoft and Linux-type software. The authors conclude that it is unlikely that one of the systems will force the other one out. However, they explore the different situations that could arise that could potentially make this happen.
Parts of the article get a little detailed and hard to follow, but for the most part it is very informative. The most interesting part to me was the section that discusses how Microsoft could benefit from piracy when that piracy is from people who would not buy Microsoft to begin with. This is because Microsoft is not losing sales to them, yet they are still increasing the value of the system and moving users away from Linux.
Anyway, hope you enjoy because I did!

Customer collaboration and co-creation are relatively new ideas. However, as we have seen in class and through readings, more and more companies are taking on these practices and many new companies are solely based off these practices. Gaurav Bhalla, a strategy, innovation, and marketing professional with global experience, examined how customer collaboration and co-creation are becoming mainstream business practices. The ideas are being featured in many conferences around the world with companies like Local Motors being in the spotlight. Further, nonprofit organizations and government agencies are taking advantage of these strategies. See Global Pulse 2010, which was put into place after Obama's speech delivered to the Muslim world in Cairo. It was "a 3 day online collaboration and global conversation" attracting participants from over 155 countries resulting in about 10,000 ideas and opinions. We see here that this idea of collaboration and co-creation can span across cultures. The best part about it- all of us can contribute in any which way. Raj Shah, a key organizer of Global Pulse 2010 quotes, "By listening to each other and collaborating, each of us can become an agent of change and contribute to innovative and sustainable solutions to local and international challenges."

I know this is a few days behind, but last week we talked about tinkering and changing attributes of the Coca-Cola cans. This is a design by a student who came up with a more environmentally-friendly square Coke bottle. Here's what it looks like. I wonder if they'll use it?