Brukarinvolverad innovationsprocess i Fuzzy Front End

Sammanfattning: 5 Title: The user involving innovation process in Fuzzy Front End – A case study at Getinge Infection Control Authors: Fredrik Sjölund and Jan Van Helleputte Tutors: Susanna Bill – PhD student, Department of Packaging Logistics, Lund Institute of Technology Fredrik Häglund – PhD student, Department of Business Administration, Lund School of Economics and Management Jerker Funnemark – Product line manager, Getinge Infection Control, Getinge Group, Getinge Issue of study: Business in Sweden, particularly in the medical industry, is not involving their users to the extent that is necessary. Very often no exchange of information is made between users and development departments at companies. The purpose of user involvement has gone from being only a supplement to be a prerequisite for a successful innovation process. Through user involvement in development projects, development teams work with users in order to develop ideas and opportunities together. By proactively involve users in the early stages of the development process companies have the ability to increase the chances of identifying and develop innovations. The question is how users can be connected to the company's innovation process and the challenges companies face when they begin working with user-driven innovation in the early phases of development? Purpose: To provide a framework for companies that desire to implement a user involved innovation process and highlight the challenges company may be facing. Method: The research method applied is abductive with a qualitative case study methodology. The authors have chosen to face the case study from a systems approach. A theoretical framework is developed iteratively during the working process which has been constantly adapted to the empirical data collection which Brukarinvolverad Innovationsprocess i Fuzzy Front End has been collected through secondary data and qualitative semi-structured interviews. Empirical collection has been limited to the intended system to study, i.e. Getinge Infection Control and selected Swedish hospitals. The theoretical framework is applied together with the case study in order to answer the survey questions. Conclusion: The key findings worth highlighting is primarily the users high potential to contribute to the innovation process by categorization into user types and role in each element of the innovation process and, secondly, that the challenges companies faces when implementing a user involved innovation process concerns user evaluation, processes, values, capabilities and resources.