Lead user innovation

- You see, Julio is a lead user. This term was pioneered by Eric von Hippel. Eric von Hippel, who will break it down for you. - [Eric] Let's recall that Julio is a user innovator, because he needs that one-handed laryngoscope for himself. What does it mean that he's a lead user? It means that he is ahead of the market in terms of demand. Julio is in a situation where he has to do it with one hand, cause he's in a helicopter. However, many other people, in regular medical situations would also prefer one-handed use, if it were available. So Julio's ahead, because he needs it now. Later, everybody will want it. So in that sense, Julio is leading market demand. - Lead users experience emerging needs, because they're doing something that others aren't. They're exploring the frontier. In Julio's case, he was practicing intubation in extreme conditions. Lead users also stand to benefit greatly from a solution. Julio didn't wait for a device to be invented, he did it on his own. What's more, as Eric von Hippel's research has demonstrated, lead users tend to produce very different kinds of innovations from established market players. - Julio developed something which was functionally novel. That means, it was a laryngoscope that did different things. It could be used in different settings, it could be done with one hand. Those are the kinds of innovations that users tend to develop. Something that is functionally new. Now, what do producer innovators tend to do? Producer innovators tend to make you the same thing that they know you need, like a one hand laryngoscope after they've learned from Julio. And then they tend to do things like, make it sort of more efficient, cheaper, sort of more reliable, along what we call dimensions of merit. That is known dimensions of improvement that apply across every product. - Lead users produce breakthroughs, not incremental improvements. And that's exactly what Julio did. Essentially, he gave eyes to a laryngoscope and made it usable with just one hand. This method of sensing the problem, generating a solution, and testing on yourself is one of the key parents behind a great menu of very successful innovation.