Using innovation contests to master challenges of demographic change-Insights from research and practice

Abstract

Demographic change poses new challenges to both companies and society as a whole. On the one hand, an ageing population increasingly demands products and services that meet the specific needs of elderly consumers. On the other hand, the workforce necessary to devise and manufacture these products and services has to be recruited from a shrinking basis. At the same time, important knowledge and experience are often lost with senior experts' retirement. Nevertheless, this development also generates opportunities to meet these challenges. Innovation contests seem to be a very suitable method for finding solutions to these challenges-by integrating those affected by demographic change into the development of innovative products and services. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.