Recently, a "lead user" concept has been proposed for new product
development in fields subject to rapid change (von Hippel, 1986). In this paper we
integrate market research within this lead user methodology and report a test of it in the
rapidly evolving field of computer-aided systems for the design of printed circuit boards
(PC-CAD). In the test, lead users were successfully identified and proved to have
unique and useful data regarding both new product needs and solutions responsive to
those needs. New product concepts generated on the basis of lead user data were
found to be strongly preferred by a representative sample of PC-CAD users. We
discuss strengths and weaknesses of this first empirical test of the lead user
methodology, and suggest directions for future research.