The Lag-User Method, developed by researchers Sara Jahanmir and Professor Luis Filipe Lages from the Nova School of Business and Economics, will be the core of the MIT course, LAG-USER METHOD: USING LATE ADOPTERS AS A SOURCE OF INNOVATIVE IDEAS. The course will be offered in the MIT-SUTD program, collaboration between MIT and Singapore University of Technology and Design.
The Lag-User Method involves incorporating the unique perspectives of late adopters in the process of idea generation, new product development and market development. It challenges current new product development, open and user innovation practices, and proposes late adopters and laggards, the last group of users who adopt a product, as sources of innovative ideas. Findings reveal that laggards can come up with incremental, really new or break-through innovations. These findings help companies understand, get access and explore a new source of innovations.
The Lag-User Method has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and published in multiple scientific journals.