Big-science organizations as lead users: A case study of CERN

This paper explores the role of big-science organizations in a lead-user context. Lead users are valuable for suppliers because they are active in co-developing products and foreshadowing market needs. Big-science organizations represent a special breed of co-developers, as their demands are not necessarily the avant-garde of a coming market. Yet, they may provide a valuable test bed for suppliers because they are pushing the boundaries of technological capacities and, thus, challenging suppliers' talents. They are also prestigious collaboration partners that help producers to be acknowledged as being at the forefront of technology. They are often deeply engaged in their suppliers' manufacturing and development activities, which is seen as a characteristic of the customer-active paradigm upon which the lead-user notion builds. This paper investigates whether and how interacting with the European Organization for Nuclear Research concerning their development needs may contribute to suppliers' innovation. We ask the question: What characterizes interactions with big-science organizations as a type of lead user, and how do these characteristics impact the potential innovation benefits accruing to the suppliers?