user development

Outsourcing has become an important and even ordinary tool for enterprises to concentrate on their core competences: external know-how can be implemented into research, development and production by leaving out internal services to business partners. But in the past the most interesting partner for outsourcing has not been recognized yet. Creating space for the customer to participate in configuration and even development is the aim of Embedded Open Toolkits for User Innovation (EMOTIO), advanced by the Laboratory for Machine Tools WZL of RWTH Aachen University. Therefore the customer is offered room to modify actual configurations and even implement own creative solutions during the practical use of a product. These changes will be evaluated and leaded back into the production process to improve the product successively.

A new business model, conceived by WZL of the University of Aachen, bases on Open Source development and advances Outsourcing. Commercial Open Source Development (COSD) has the capability to break open the area of conflict between customer orientation, individualisation, product design costs and error probability by embedding the customer systematically and lucratively into product development. Two trends of product design support COSD: Functions of technical products can be increasingly affected through Software solutions; Open Source principals have reached a high level of maturity.