Innovation and Co-Creation

Innovation has always been key to the sustained organic growth that creates and maintains firm value. Today, however, traditional approaches to innovation—even “customer-centric” innovation—may not fully leverage insights available from the marketplace. Today’s “market intelligence” is not just discovered through research, but emerges as customers adopt—and adapt—products and services. As customers increasingly co-create their consumption experiences, innovation may mean company-sponsored platforms that allow customers to create their own products and services when, where, and as needed.

The conference will begin on the evening of June 16th with a tour and reception at Boeing’s Customer Experience Center in Renton (located between the airport and Seattle), Boeing’s “showroom” for airplane interiors and customer service solutions, which houses mockups of the 787 and 747-8 airplane interiors. The conference will continue for the next day and a half, with presentations exploring issues at the intersection of innovation and customer co-creation. Are innovation and co-creation complementary or competing strategies for meeting evolving customer needs and expectations? What products and services lend themselves to which forms of innovation or co-creation? What are the success stories and cautionary tales? What aspects of co-creation drive customer perceptions of value? Is the process as important as the outcome?