The aim of this chapter is to examine how the lead user approach
successfully can be applied in the public sector and how it can contribute to
collaborative innovation. This chapter is based on a case study of lead user innovation
in the Danish Ministry of Taxation. In the last decade, the Ministry has increased the
participation of citizens and thereby strengthened the role of the users in the innovation
process. Encouraged by studies showing that users contribute more to the innovation
than producers, the Ministry wanted to examine whether lead users could also
contribute to public innovation on complex problems. This was done by doing a lead
user study concerning bookkeeping. On the basis of the project, it is described and
discussed how the lead user approach can be used to make collaborative innovation
happen and increase the outcome of the innovation process. The conclusion is that the
lead user approach can be used in the public sector and it increases the possibility for
radical innovation. However, development of the lead user approach is needed. Firstly,
by adding a fifth phase to the existing lead user approach to be sure innovation happens
in a collaborative way, and secondly, by expanding the bottom lines to the complexity
in the public sector and thirdly, by updating the methods used to engage citizens.
Keywords: Bookkeeping, bottom lines, collaborative, complex, innovation,
involvement, lead user, methods, participation, power, public sector, taxation,
trends, user needs.
