How can innovative companies generate new ideas? How can companies network their way to new product ideas? Perhaps the question startups need to ponder is how much of an innovation process is wrong.

Eric Von Hippel, a professor of technological innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts ponders radical conclusions.

• Conventional Innovation

Eric Von Hippel believes the traditional product innovation process is flawed. In traditional innovation practice, companies take all the credit for product innovation, while users get little or no mention.

For Hippel, innovative and revolutionary ideas originate from users who create improvised product versions for their own benefit. Manufacturers have learnt to polish and leverage user innovations. Crucial in this endeavor are lead users—enthusiastic, advanced users who are highly likely to innovate for their custom needs.

• How small businesses can identify lead users?

Companies can identify lead users by leveraging individuals with the most extreme problems. For instance, according to Hippel, when 3M needed surgeons with expertise in infection control, the company discovered that surgeons who work with cancer patients were leading in this field thanks to their dealings with immune-compromised cancer patients.

The conclusion from the foregoing is that lead users can effectively be identified through networking. Companies must learn to find individuals who are leading in their areas, for instance talking to a good tennis player when looking for new tennis products. But even so, always ask such industry leaders who else knows better than they do; network!

That way, companies can narrow down on places where their locus of innovation is likely to be, with users most likely to be innovative. It’s trying to figure out where the problem is and leveraging it. Lead users can help innovate through networks.

What do you think?