User-Driven Innovation - the Concept and Research Results

The research problem discussed in the paper is the innovation process, called User-Driven Innovation (UDI). The aim of the study is to determine whether the UDI system is more effective in introducing innovations than the linear one. The following hypothesis was formulated: companies introducing UDI systems represent a higher level of innovativeness than companies introducing the linear process. The following methods were used: a questionnaire, a standardized interview, and the ranking method. The hypothesis has been verified. The research showed a relatively small role of the Management Board in relation to customers in the innovation processes at the enterprises surveyed.