During a recent course I took at the MIT Sloan School of Management, I had a chance to meet Professor Eric von Hippel. Professor von Hippel, who leads the school’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group, had some interesting things to say about how the Web, particularly Web 2.0, will change the face of innovation.

The notion that I really liked the most was that users have always been the real developers of many of the new products that manufacturers produce. This is evident in the field of sports, for example the first skateboard. But now users are increasingly engaging in collaborative innovation – enabled by the Web. This collaborative user innovation has higher efficiency than traditional in-house product development by producers. As a result, some firms are abandoning aspects of their in-house development activities in favor of becoming publishers of innovations developed by user communities! Check out our podcast …

Innovation in a Web 2.0 world, a podcast with Professor Eric von Hippel

About Eric von Hippel

Eric von Hippel is a professor and head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He specializes in research related to the nature and economics of distributed and open innovation. He also develops and teaches about practical methods that firms can use to improve their product and service development processes.

Democratizing Innovation (free book download)

The Sources of Innovation (free book download)

I’ve been following The Marketing Technology Blog by Douglas Karr, and I’m in awe of him and his natural blogging ability. He blogs on his topic daily, sometimes more, and produces really well thought out posts. As a result, he has built a strong following on his blog that is rivaled by very few. And he’s done it in record time!

I decided to reach out to Douglas Karr and interview him on a podcast to bring you some key learnings on how to build the audience for your blog. Enjoy …

How to Build a Successful Blog Quickly, a Podcast with Douglas Karr

About Doug

Doug is currently a product manager for a major permission-based email service provider – named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine. Doug is also a proud member of the Indianapolis Colts Marketing Advisory Board, led by Pat Coyle, the Colts’ database marketing director. Pat and Doug also launched the Indianapolis Book Mashup – a book club to discuss the latest business, marketing and technology publications.

The opening speaker last week at the World Innovation Forum was Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor in Strategy and Innovation. In his speech Clayton discussed the principles of his two books: The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution.

When you listen to Clayton speak about the dynamics of a strategic market such as steel, and how the mini-mills disrupted the big steel mills, it’s a lesson that is one part history and one part common sense. Of course the mini-mills entered and disrupted the low end of the market, and of course the big mills were happy to get out of the low end because it was not as profitable a business. From there the mini-mills march up market until they totally disrupt the big mills at the high end!

Well folks, you see the same thing happening in technology. The mini-mills this time are the offshore firms that are pushing onshore with strategy work. So I couldn’t help but ask Clayton how this is playing out. What you will hear makes perfect sense, but listen closely. There are lessons in there for all of us.

Exclusive Interview: Clayton Christensen on Innovation

About Clayton

Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. His research and teaching interests center on the management issues related to the development and commercialization of technological and business model innovation. Specific areas of focus include developing organizational capabilities and finding new markets for new technologies.