Just a flip, turn and jump from user to inventor

Consumers refuse to be passive, take product innovation into their own hands

All change! We have entered an age when innovation is in the hands of the user, according to Eric von Hippel, head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

In his book on the trend, Democratising Innovation, Von Hippel - to illustrate how non-technical individuals come up with inventions - charts the development of high-performance windsurfing techniques and equipment in Hawaii.

High-performance windsurfing is different from the kind you normally see, which appears to mean just hanging on for dear life. A bit like 'free-running' and streetscape skateboarding, the upmarket version involves acrobatics - think flips, jumps and mid-air turns.

The acrobat at the heart of the story is leading exponent Larry Stanley. Back in 1975, Stanley and a German rival were trying to outshine each other during training by jumping higher and higher.

Alas, the riders and boards usually parted company in space, making the activity more of a watersport than the daredevils desired. It was also more extreme than they could handle, hurting their feet and legs, and damaging the board in the bargain.

The eureka moment came when it dawned on Stanley that all he needed was footstraps: a less obvious insight than it sounds now. He had discovered the art of controlled flight.