Everyday Innovators

A recent article in the New York Times called How to Improve It? Ask Those Who Use It describes how Eric von Hippel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, is a “leading advocate of the value of letting users of products modify them or improve them, because they may come up with changes that manufacturers never considered. He thinks that this could help companies develop products more quickly and inexpensively than with their internal design teams.” He calls this phenomenon user-driven innovation. One of his studies “found that 82 percent of new capabilities for scientific instruments like electron microscopes were developed by users.” For example, Detroit’s automakers tend to mimic and standardize the modifications individuals make to their cars (spoilers, fins, and 30-speaker stereo systems come to mind). And software, particularly gaming software, is increasingly open-source, or open to modifications (‘mods’) by users.

While the article, which is found in the business section of the Times, is primarily concerned with the economic ramifications and possibilities of user-driven innovation, it highlights a trend that reinforces the importance of re-envisioning how our schools are preparing our children. As the article points out, everyday people, and not just professionals, are increasingly getting opportunities to contribute to innovations that improve our lives. To take the most advantage of such opportunities, young people need design experience, the kind of experience typically sidelined in the rush to ace standardized tests.

Epistemic Games, on the other hand, ask players to inhabit the shoes of innovative professionals. In a game like Digital Zoo, players, as engineers-in-training, design, build and test products for a client. While the young people play the role of engineers in the game, the expectation is not that all of the kids will grow up to be engineers. What’s important is that they can see the world and problem-solve as if they were engineers. This type of experience may very well prepare them to be the everyday innovators that von Hippel extols.