In today’s environment of rapid technological change companies can not rely on incrementalinnovations alone. To sustain long-term competitiveness companies need to develop radicalinnovations as well. Such innovations typically incorporate new and highly complex technologies,create new markets or shift existing market structures, and require user learning as they often inducesignificant behaviour changes on side of the users. To systematically develop radical innovations firmsneed to involve the proper actors. One such important external actor in the development process ofnew products is the user.Our study focuses on the question what kind of users are able to actively contribute to thedevelopment of radical innovations and what firms can learn from them to improve their innovativecapability. A multiple case study analysis was conducted in the field of medical technology. Fiveradical innovation projects were selected including medical robots and computer-assisted navigationsystems. The case study analysis reveals that users with a unique set of characteristics can contributesubstantially to the development of radical innovations. These users have a high motivation towardnew solutions, are open to new technologies, possess diverse competencies...
