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The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the results from the LIVING LAB design study, a project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of this project was to develop the conceptual design of the LIVING LAB Research Infrastructure that will be used to research human interaction with, and stimulate the adoption of, sustainable, smart and healthy innovations around the home.

A LIVING LAB is a combined lab‐/household system, analysing existing product‐service‐systems as well as technical and socioeconomic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.). This approach allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user on centre stage.

As this paper discusses the design study, no actual findings can be presented here but the focus is on presenting the research approach.

The two elements (real homes and living laboratories) of this approach are what make the LIVING LAB research infrastructure unique. The research conducted in LIVING LAB will be innovative in several respects. First, it will contribute to market innovation by producing breakthroughs in sustainable domestic technologies that will be easy to install, user friendly and that meet environmental performance standards in real life. Second, research from LIVING LAB will contribute to innovation in practice by pioneering new forms of in‐context, user‐centred research, including long‐term and cross‐cultural research.

Designing knowledge management (KM) systems capable of transforming big data into information characterised by strategic value is a major challenge faced nowadays by firms in almost all industries. However, in the managerial field, big data is now mainly used to support operational activities while its strategic potential is still largely unexploited. Based on these considerations, this study proposes an overview of the literature regarding the relationship between big data and business strategy.

A bibliographic coupling method is applied over a dataset of 128 peer-reviewed articles, published from 2013 (first year when articles regarding the big data-business strategy relationship were published) to 2019. Thereafter, a systematic literature review is presented on 116 papers, which were found to be interconnected based on the VOSviewer algorithm.

This study discovers the existence of four thematic clusters. Three of the clusters relate to the following topics: big data and supply chain strategy; big data, personalisation and co-creation strategies and big data, strategic planning and strategic value creation. The fourth cluster concerns the relationship between big data and KM and represents a ‘bridge’ between the other three clusters.

Based on the bibliometric analysis and the systematic literature review, this study identifies relevant understudied topics and research gaps, which are suggested as future research directions.

This is the first study to systematise and discuss the literature concerning the relationship between big data and firm strategy.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of online networking during the innovation process, including its role(s) in communication, cooperation and coordination. The paper neither implicitly assumes that online computer‐based networking is a prerequisite for the innovation process nor denies the possibility that innovation can emerge and successfully survive without it. It merely presupposes that, in cases of innovation where information and communication technologies play a substantial role, non‐proprietarity may offer an interesting alternative to innovations based on proprietary knowledge.

The paper borrows from the theory of communities‐of‐practice, which takes into account social relations, contacts, and the transfer and incorporation of knowledge. Open source innovation is not the exclusive preserve of computer nerds, but also has implications for existing software manufacturers. The paper therefore includes the case of IBM, a company which has successfully integrated this new and more open way of collaboration into its business model.

The paper concludes that online computer‐based innovation fundamentally challenges current ways of communicating, cooperating and coordinating during the innovation and product development process. Moreover, it challenges the traditional business model in that it forces the actors involved to shift the focus from the innovation itself to the identification of new supporting services higher up the value chain. Last, but not least, it blurs the boundary between development and use, since the developer remains the key user.

The paper addresses the implications for future research in the area.

The paper addresses implications for practitioners directly involved in innovation and product development.

This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding product development based on non‐proprietary knowledge, which cannot be adequately accounted for by traditional corporate innovation theory alone.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the nature and policy implications of the shift from producer‐centred product and service design to innovation by the user, specifically internet‐supported collaborative design by user communities.

An overview of the importance of innovation by individual lead users is followed by a description of collaborative innovation by user communities. The authors then focus on policies, which need to be re‐examined in the light of the shift from producer innovation to collaborative user innovation. The authors conclude by making some suggestions specifically pertinent to Chinese government policy, in a region, which is emerging as a major player in global innovation.

An important form of user innovation–Internet‐supported collaborative design of new products and services by user communities–is likely to progressively supplant producer product and service design in many fields. This shift will require changes in governments' innovation policies, for example, with respect to intellectual property rights (IPRs).

In line with emerging research findings, this paper takes a user‐centred view of the innovation process. It proposes applicable strategies, which will enhance the effectiveness of this novel innovation paradigm in a Chinese context.

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Highlighted by the Harvard Business Review list of 20 Breakthrough ideas for 2007, user‐centred innovation, based on the concept of lead users, takes a fundamentally different approach to product innovation to that practiced in most organisations. It is based on the research by Eric von Hippel, MIT, which found that many commercially important products are initially thought of and even prototyped by product users (lead users) rather than manufacturers. In recognising this, the lead user process can transform the difficult job of generating product and service “breakthroughs” into a systematic task of tracking down especially promising lead users and adapting and developing their ideas to a business's needs. The approach, which 3M has found to generate project ideas that deliver sales eight times higher than those generated by contemporaneous traditional projects, is now not only taking hold within industry, and within user communities, but it has got to the point where governments are getting involved.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a structured improvement process that is used in all programmes of work of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHS Institute).

This paper outlines the background to the development of the improvement process, specifically how learning from the domains of new product development, user centred design and innovation and creativity have been incorporated into the process.

There are key elements of evidence and experience that can be taken from other domains and incorporated into a structured approach to healthcare improvement.

An improvement process is outlined that could be used as a basis for any healthcare improvement effort, and will help to ensure the development of better solutions more quickly.

This paper introduces a process that will help anyone interested in improving healthcare create better solutions to the challenges they face in shorter timescales.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the possibility for firms to consider institutional settings to systematically direct dispersed individual efforts of discovery and invention towards objects (products or processes) of their interest in order to enhance their value creation capacity.

The authors conduct a comparative analysis of the different institutional settings within which software products are invented and produced – closed producer-centred model, open user-centred model, and hybrid interactive producer-user model.

The authors draw indications regarding the possibility to design institutional settings for value creation and the potential pitfalls tied to these strategic tools.

A theoretical framework is elaborated in order to understand the different ways in which institutional contexts influence and direct value creation processes. The model analysed shows the firms’ deliberate attempt to stimulate a dynamic process of social interaction and communication which may foster higher levels of creativity and innovation. In order to guarantee the necessary accessibility and to sufficiently motivate external programmers towards the perception of a new code, the firm has to surrender the traditional source through which it appropriates value: barriers to the accessibility of the code developed through IPRs. The adoption of an institutional setting which facilitates dynamic value creation processes suggests, therefore, the need to turn to dynamic mechanisms for value appropriation in parallel.

Purpose – The paper introduces methods for the evaluation of new software applications that build on semantic knowledge technology for use in information‐ and knowledge‐intensive application domains. Design/methodology/approach – While user‐centred design is a mature and proven field, the new knowledge‐centred applications also require that information quality is assessed in a more profound manner than was considered previously, and the business value generated by semantic knowledge technology is quantified. The methods to be used in different phases of the development cycle are described. Findings – The approaches used in ongoing RTD projects and in different user organizations are described. Research limitations/implications – The analysis of organisational aspects of knowledge management and the benefits of improvements in cooperation mechanisms provide further challenges for methodological development. Practical implications – Recommendations and suggestions for similar innovative research and application development projects are given. Originality/value – While some of the methods are proven and well documented, there is a need to collect further experience with the user validation of applications using semantic knowledge technology.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how and to what extent users can become involved in the process of selecting and implementing telecare and telehealth technologies in local health care services.

The discussion is based on data from a project in one local authority in Norway. About 100 persons have participated in focus group interviews where issues regarding new telecare and telehealth technologies for the elderly were discussed. The focus groups involved different groups of product users and stakeholder groups, i.e. “older senior users” (over 65 years), “younger senior users” (55-65 years), relatives, health care professionals and general practitioners (GPs).

Different user groups have different stakes in the technology. It is difficult to involve “older senior users” in the selection process due to their lack of information about potential solutions, while “younger senior users” are more informed and positive towards the introduction of telecare and telehealth technologies. The results also indicate that professionals are ambiguous towards new technologies; on the one hand they expect services to be better, but on the other they are concerned about ethical and working life issues that have not been fully explored as yet.

This paper provides an understanding of how different groups of product users and stakeholder groups relate to and can be involved in an expanded implementation process of telecare and telehealth technology which allow older people to remain in their homes for longer.