In this report we analyse how successful innovative firms select early adopter users, collect feedback from them and create benefits in the innovation commercialisation stage. Adopting the multiple case study method, we investigated 14 successful innovative firms operating in Australia, conducted in-depth interviews with managers holding high-level responsibilities in the case firms and analysed the data using a thematic analysis method. We find that innovator firms’ access to end users depends on the type of user (corporate or individual), downstream supply chain structure, congruence between the innovation and the core business products as well as built relationships with users. Case firms use an array of strategies to select early adopters and generate specific benefits of user feedback for product innovation. Successful case firms institutionalise the learning from user feedback to create sustained benefits. To institutionalise learning, firms need to interact with users across the innovation process and learn efficiently. Subsequently, governments can promote interactive learning relationships among actors in the national innovation system by diffusing the knowledge created in innovative firms to nudge the behaviour of laggard firms towards best practices
