“…Users, both intermediate and consumers, play a central role in innovation processes in various sectors -from oil refining (Enos, 1962), chemical (Hollander, 1965) and the semiconductors industry (von Hippel, 1988) to software (von Krogh & von Hippel, 2006) and sports equipment development (Franke & Shah, 2003). The phenomenon of UI has recently been strongly reinforced by the continuing advances in computer and communications capabilities (von Hippel, 2005) that increase access to information within society (Lakhani & Panetta, 2007) and drive heterogeneity of user demand (Franke & von Hippel, 2003). The latter can be observed especially within the new generation of consumers, born and raised in the digital era, who demand customized products and services or at least the freedom to modify them accordingly to their needs (Tapscott & Williams, 2006).…”