Co-creation: The Value Is Not The Product

In recent years, co-creation is the buzzword of the business world. Companies are launching co-creation or innovation centers focused on everything from health care, to toys, to corporate responsibility.

So, what is co-creation?

As you’d expect with a concept that hinges on collaboration and innovation, the definition is subjective and constantly changing.

Francis Gouillart, president and co-founder of the Experience Co-Creation Partnership, has written that, “The idea of co-creation is to unleash the creative energy of many people, such that it transforms both their individual experience and the economics of the organization that enabled it.”

Gouillart’s definition focuses on the mutual benefits for organizations and individuals gets once they are allowed to liberate their creative potential. The benefit for individuals is the experience while, for the organization, the value is in “the economics.”

Piller, Ihl and Vossen, who proposed a typology of co-creation, wrote that, “Customer co-creation is an active, creative and social process, based on collaboration between producers (retailers) and users, that is initiated by the firm to generate value for customers.”

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