How To Create Innovation

With Innovation being or continuing to be the buzzword of the day, in which not only designers and now the US government are looking for ways to better understand the problem(s) being faced by their target audience and how to develop or "Create Innovation", we have always been big proponents of ethnographic research and "Deep Dive" immersions to our clients/potential clients, so I was glad to read the Wall Street Journal's recent article "In Search of Innovation" which vilifies some of our thinking especially in today's economy where research budgets are being slashed and qualitative research, especially ethnographic research is being shelved for more "cost effective" methodologies:

Source: Wall Street Journal by John Bessant, Kathrin Moslein and Bettina Von Stamm

Interest has surged in market research that uses detailed, firsthand observation to learn more about consumers’ needs or wants. Deep diving is one of many terms used to describe the approach, which resembles an anthropological study in the way researchers immerse themselves in the lives of the target consumers.

Such approaches can help uncover underserved or unserved markets and give clues to new directions and new frames in which to search for innovative ideas.

Novo Nordisk, for one, mobilized teams in several developing countries to research how health systems with limited resources were handling diabetes care. Researchers compiled detailed interviews and observations—documenting cases by interviewing patients and recording them on video, and spending time in hospitals, rural clinics and the health ministry. The result: a rich picture of the market, of needs that weren’t being met, and fertile suggestions for alternative products and services that might be delivered.