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Crowd Engineering—An Open Innovation Approach Adapted to Product Development

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Abstract

Product development is a complex process that requires significant resources and expertise. Traditional product development methods can be slow, expensive, and may not always lead to successful outcomes. Crowd Engineering is a new approach to product development that leverages the power of crowdsourcing to accelerate innovation and reduce costs. This method involves breaking down complex tasks into smaller sub-tasks that can be completed by a large number of external innovators and developers, often through online platforms. By doing so, it allows for greater flexibility in development speed and iterations, as well as reducing the amount of work per step. The involvement of external innovators and developers in Crowd Engineering opens up new discussions that can lead to otherwise unachievable innovations. It combines methods of the stage gate model with agile development methods, making it suitable for adoption in various product development models depending on the product type and use case. However, there are potential challenges to using this approach, such as ensuring quality control and managing intellectual property rights. The following chapter will discuss the concept of Crowd Engineering and the implications of its implementation as an alternative product development process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Michael Hertwig, Joachim Lentes & Frauke Schuseil

  2. University of Stuttgart, Institute for Human-Factors and Technology Management IAT, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Adrian Barwasser

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  1. Michael Hertwig
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  2. Joachim Lentes
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  3. Adrian Barwasser
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  4. Frauke Schuseil
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Correspondence to Michael Hertwig .

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  1. Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Rob Dekkers

  2. ERPI Laboratory, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France

    Laure Morel

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Hertwig, M., Lentes, J., Barwasser, A., Schuseil, F. (2024). Crowd Engineering—An Open Innovation Approach Adapted to Product Development. In: Dekkers, R., Morel, L. (eds) European Perspectives on Innovation Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41796-2_7

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