Patients and Caregivers as Developers of Medical Devices : An Empirical Study on User Innovation in the Healthcare Sector

Focus and Scope of this Thesis -- Introduction -- Conceptual Foundations: The Phenomenon of Patients and Caregivers as User Innovators -- Are Patients and Caregivers the Better Innovators? The Case of Medical Smartphone Applications -- Introduction: User Innovation and Medical Smartphone Applications -- Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development -- Methodology -- Findings -- Discussion -- Preliminary Conclusions -- Introduction: User Entrepreneurs for Social Innovation -- Theoretical Background and Research Questions -- Methodology -- Implications and Conclusion.