Experiences from setting up an Internet Shopping Collaboratory

Abstract: In today’s business there is a legible need to find innovative procedures regarding product- or service development where several stakeholders meet in the same arena. An unresolved quest, however, is how such an arena could be set up and which activities to perform. This paper describes experiences from establishing such an arena, called an Internet Shopping Collaboratory (ISC). The ISC assembled researchers, practitioners, consumers, and solution providers in refining ideas to new products aimed to a future e-market. The basic idea has been to apply a co-design approach. The paper outlines why the ISC project did not work and lessons that were learnt. In the paper we make equivalent comparisons from the characteristics of the evolving ISC to the Living Lab concept. A focus on content was found vital for getting the different stakeholders engaged in the collaboratory. The case described uses an ideal scenario technique and applies a co-design approach. 1