Technology driven vs. user driven innovation
I recently remembered some interesting discussions a few years ago in R&D, when the business departments of the company complained that innovation was too strongly driven by new technologies rather than a real user need which in their eyes lead to products and services that nobody wanted. In some cases they were right.
But how can users know about their needs in context with unknown future technologies? If you just ask them, most probably they want the same services only much faster or the same products in better quality, etc. Of course, there are techniques like deep dives to find out what the pain of customers is to provide them with new offers that fit their needs. However, most people in user research are not familiar with the opportunities of future technologies and might not be able to come up with the best pain killers by themselves.
In my opinion innovation should be driven by both, technology and user needs. The lead can be taken by one or the other, depending on the case. A smart engineer might ask himself what new services could be offered through the almost seamless coverage of privately owned WLANs in cities, create some ideas and double-check them with customer researchers. On the other hand, a usability consultant could discover people’s difficulties with SMS-writing while driving and find possible solutions with engineers.
Technology-driven innovation is not wrong per se, there should be a good mix.