Dr. Niek Wijngaards
The topic of user centered innovation has been floating in my mind since 2012… just out of reach… At that time I was reflecting on the connection between the different research topics and projects that I worked on in the previous two decades. I clearly noticed my enjoyment of working on these topics and the interaction with my colleagues, project partners, users and other stakeholders. I also noticed how these topics strengthened each other and provided me with the stepping stones to further explore solutions for the challenges presented by stakeholders. The puzzle pieces became tangible in the Summer of 2014 and I arrived at the overarching topic: user-centered innovation. The catalyst that lead to my insight came only after having worked at Thales NL on a proof of concept for a new business initiative. In that initiative, cooperation among different (legal) entities is facilitated by giving each entity full control over information sharing towards any other entity. During presentations and meetings I had often been arguing vehemently to safeguard autonomy…
Looking back from 2014, it is of course obvious that the main ingredient, guaranteeing autonomy, has been the leitmotiv in my research since 1993. When finding the connecting theme, it all looks so simple… 🙂
My motivation to create this website? My rationale is very straightforward: there is no such website yet. By creating a website a topic gains interactivity and has greater chance of becoming mature. I could have waited with sharing about user-centered innovation and started for example writing a book. That takes quite some time… With a website it becomes possible for professionals to learn, discuss and apply concepts from user-centered innovation. Sharing knowledge is of benefit to us all; as Isaac Newton stated: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” (1676), see here on Wikipedia.
Enjoy and please leave your thoughts and suggestions as comments! And who knows, perhaps I will write that book – but no promises yet :-).
Niek Wijngaards, November 2014.