Different Phases of the Innovation Process

The innovation process (IP) contains challenges within its different phases, which companies have to deal with when developing new products. Integrating customers in new product development (NPD) is a way of managing those difficulties. This paper consequently addresses the interrelation between the IP and customer integration by having a look at the specific activities within each phase, followed by a depiction of challenges and an analysis of how customers can contribute to a more efficient IP. The lead user (LU) and the toolkits approach as well as virtual costumer environments (VCE) as methods for customer integration will be considered in detail.