TY - JOUR A1 - Brem, Alexander A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Marchuk, Anna T1 - How crowdfunding platforms change the nature of user innovation – from problem solving to entrepreneurship JF - Technological Forecasting and Social Change N2 - Crowdfunding has become a key research trend in recent years providing a new form of acquiring funding for innovation projects from users prior to the realization of the product in a ‘market before the market’. In this paper, we link the concept of crowdfunding with the user innovation phenomenon and show how user innovators harness crowdfunding to complement their innovative behavior and obtain funding to build firms and produce products in a more professional way. Conducting three case studies ranging from low- to high-tech crowdfunding campaigns, we investigate how crowdfunding impacts constituent dimensions of user innovation theory such as user motivation, user role, user community, collaboration between users and user investments. In particular, we argue that crowdfunding platforms (CFPs) may give rise to a more widespread occurrence of user entrepreneurs, who found a firm to commercialize their product or service in a marketplace they have created for their own need. Hence, we show the development from traditional user innovation to crowdfunding-enabled user innovation, which democratizes not only the creation but also the more large-scale commercialization of new products and services. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.11.020 SN - 0040-1625 VL - 144 SP - 348 EP - 360 PB - Elsevier BV ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Brem, Alexander A1 - Voigt, Kai-Ingo T1 - User-centric Innovations in New Product Development BT - Systematic Identification of Lead Users Harnessing Interactive and Collaborative Online-tools JF - International Journal of Innovation Management N2 - Corporate innovation management geared to long-term success calls for a strategy to grow innovations into a substantial competitive advantage. This, however, coincides with an enormous failure-rate at the market, especially in the field of breakthrough innovations. Hence, in recent times, companies are trying to alleviate the risk of lacking user-acceptance through opening their innovation processes to external actors, particularly customers. The method of integrating lead users is determined by the effective and systematic identification of leading-edge customers, which is considered to be a critical phase within this approach. With the arrival of Web 2.0 applications, there is a huge potential to improve these selection processes. Our research into online communities and weblogs scrutinised the search criteria in an online environment and revealed the following characteristics as crucial factors for the online identification of lead users: being ahead of a market trend, high expected benefits, user expertise and motivation, extreme user needs as well as opinion leadership and an online commitment. KW - New product developmentlead userweb 2.0online communitiesuser-centric innovation Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1142/S1363919608002096 SN - 1363-9196 VL - 12 IS - 3 PB - World Scientific CY - London ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Wöhrl, Andrea A1 - Korte, Sophia A1 - Bartl, Michael A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Brem, Alexander ED - Bstieler, Ludwig ED - Noble, Charles T1 - HOW TO LEVERAGE THE RIGHT USERS AT THE RIGHT TIME WITHIN USER-CENTRIC INNOVATION PROCESSES T2 - The PDMA Handbook of Innovation and New Product Development Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-1-119-89021-8 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ET - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schötteler Libera, Pedro A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Schötteler, Sebastian A1 - Mammen, Jan T1 - ChatGPT in the Working World: A Qualitative Study JF - Information Resources Management Journal (IRMJ) N2 - The authors investigated how ChatGPT transforms workplace tasks by analyzing qualitative survey responses from 78 U.S. professionals in the fields of software, marketing, and academia. This study addresses a gap in understanding the malleability of generative artificial intelligence in diverse professional contexts, a need underscored by ChatGPT’s rapid adoption and mixed impact on work practices. Using a qualitative survey deployed via a validated platform, the authors collected open-ended responses about tasks, challenges, and opportunities. Responses were inductively coded to compare domain-specific applications. The findings show that although ChatGPT is widely used across sectors for tasks such as content creation, research, and idea generation, certain tasks—such as coding in software, strategic communication in marketing, and knowledge acquisition in academia—diverge. The results emphasize the importance of context-sensitive integration strategies and bottom-up adoption approaches to maximize the benefits of artificial intelligence while mitigating risks. KW - Generative AI KW - Technology Adoption KW - Human-AI Interaction KW - Organizational Malleability KW - Qualitative Research Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4018/IRMJ.386593 VL - 38 IS - 1 PB - IGI Global ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Daniel A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Laarmann, Felix T1 - Wie KI das Innovationsmanagement revolutioniert BT - Eine Befragung unter Innovationsverantwortlichen JF - Ideen- und Innovationsmanagement N2 - Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) entwickelt sich als „General-Purpose Technology“ zum zentralen Beschleuniger von Innovationsprozessen und verändert das Innovationsmanagement grundlegend – insbesondere seit dem Durchbruch generativer KI und großer Sprachmodelle. Aufbauend auf einer quantitativen Online-Umfrage unter 45 Innovationsverantwortlichen aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz (Juli–Oktober 2024) analysiert die Studie Einstellungen, aktuelle Nutzung, Potenziale, strategische Verankerung und Barrieren von KI im Innovationsmanagement und vergleicht ausgewählte Ergebnisse mit einer Prä-ChatGPT-Studie (Füller et al., 2022). Die Befragten stehen KI mehrheitlich positiv gegenüber, zugleich bleibt die Nutzung im Innovationsmanagement hinter der allgemeinen KI-Adoption in Unternehmen zurück: Viele Organisationen experimentieren, aber nur wenige skalieren systematisch. Besonders deutlich zeigt sich seit 2022 eine Verschiebung von analytischen hin zu kreativen Anwendungen (z. B. Ideengenerierung, Design, Prototyping), während evaluative und nutzerzentrierte Aufgaben (z. B. User/Concept Testing) weiterhin überwiegend menschlich geprägt sind. Als wichtigste erwartete Nutzen werden Effizienzgewinne, schnellere Datenverarbeitung, kürzere Entwicklungszyklen und Kostensenkung genannt, während Qualitätsverbesserung nachrangig bleibt. Strategisch fehlt häufig eine kohärente KI-Strategie; Investitionen sind meist moderat, sollen jedoch in den nächsten Jahren steigen. Zentrale Hemmnisse sind mangelnde Kompetenz und Orientierung auf Führungsebene sowie Datenschutz- und Sicherheitsbedenken. Daraus leitet die Studie Managementimplikationen ab: KI strategisch verankern, kreative Einsatzfelder gezielt erschließen, Kompetenzen aufbauen, Pilotprojekte skalieren und Governance/Security frühzeitig adressieren. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.37307/j.2198-3151.2025.02.07 SN - 2198-3151 VL - 51 IS - 2 SP - 66 EP - 72 PB - Erich Schmidt Verlag CY - Berlin ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hahn, Alexander A1 - Joosten, Jan A1 - Klug, Katharina A1 - Bilgram, Volker ED - Hofbauer, Günter T1 - Embracing Digital Empathy T2 - Artificial Intelligence in Business and Engineering Y1 - 2025 SN - 978-3-17-046742-2 PB - Kohlhammer CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brem, Alexander A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Gutstein, Adele T1 - Involving Lead Users in Innovation: A Structured Summary of Research on the Lead User Method JF - International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management N2 - Research on the lead user method has been conducted for more than thirty years and has shown that the method is more likely to generate breakthrough innovation than traditional market research tools. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper shows a detailed view on the broad variety of research on lead user characteristics, lead user processes, lead user identification and application, and success factors. The main challenge of the lead user method as identified in literature is the resource issue regarding time, manpower, and costs. Also, internal acceptance and the processing of the method have been spotted in literature, as well as the intellectual property protection issue. From the starting point of the initial lead user method process introduced by Lüthje and Herstatt (2004), results are integrated into a revisited view on the lead user method process. In addition, concrete suggestions for corporate realization options are given. The article closes with limitations and future research suggestions. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219877018500220 SN - 0219-8770 VL - 15 IS - 03 PB - World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Laarmann, Felix T1 - Accelerating Innovation With Generative AI: AI-Augmented Digital Prototyping and Innovation Methods JF - IEEE Engineering Management Review N2 - Easy-to-use generative artificial intelligence (AI) is democratizing the use of AI in innovation management and may significantly change the way how we work and innovate. In this article, we show how large language models (LLMs), such as generative pretrained transformer (GPT), can augment the early phases of innovation, in particular, exploration, ideation, and digital prototyping. Drawing on six months of experimenting with LLMs in internal and client innovation projects, we share first-hand experiences and concrete examples of AI-assisted approaches. The article highlights a large variety of use cases for generative AI ranging from user journey mapping to idea generation and prototyping and foreshadows the promising role LLMs may play in future knowledge management systems. Moreover, we argue that generative AI may become a game changer in early prototyping as the delegation of tasks to an artificial agent can result in faster iterations and reduced costs. Our experiences also provide insights into how human innovation teams purposively and effectively interact with AIs and integrate them into their workflows. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/EMR.2023.3272799 SN - 0360-8581 VL - 51 IS - 2 SP - 18 EP - 25 PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Füller, Johann A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Wahl, Julian A1 - Hutter, Katja T1 - Autonomous Innovation – How AI is implemented in Innovation Management N2 - Success stories about the groundbreaking impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technology on business are omnipresent, and the benefits that might emerge for innovation management are the talk of the town. However, managers are still struggling to find the appropriate approach for applying AI in their innovation projects. At this early stage in the age of AI, companies differ in how they leverage the opportunities afforded by AI and seek guidance. Our study among 162 tech-savvy managers highlights the current state of AI usage in innovation management, reveals different implementation patterns, and provides guidance in finding the right approach to increase innovation performance using AI technology. We find that companies follow distinct implementation approaches that differ regarding strategy, organizational setup, capability building, and scaling, which results in three user groups: 39% of participants consider themselves “AI-Leaders”, the most progressive group when it comes to dealing with the technology and breaking ground in AI-driven innovation management. 30% belong to the “AI-Pragmatists” user group that is ambitious in applying AI, while 31% are „AI Aspirants” only rarely using AI for their innovation processes. A vast majority of the participants anticipates overall improvements in innovation performance by more than 50%, as they expect the effectiveness and efficiency of new product development to increase significantly. However, companies still face severe implementation challenges, such as missing data access or a lack of technical expertise. Depending on their individual characteristics, companies should take deliberate strategies to advance in the autonomous innovation game. Y1 - 2022 UR - https://www.hyve.net/en/autonomous-innovation-study/ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bilgram, Volker A1 - Füller, Johann A1 - Koch, Giordano A1 - Rapp, Maximilian T1 - The Potential of Crowdsourcing for Co-Marketing: How Consumers may be Turned into Brand Ambassadors JF - Transfer - Werbeforschung und Praxis Y1 - 2012 IS - 4 ER -