Why hire R&D staff at all?

So I just went through my most recent Trendwatching.com Newsletter, and came across a really cool site concept - www.ipodlounge.com. On this site, SERIOUS iPod users can talk about, learn about, their iPods. The interesting concept is that there is an area within the site where users can post suggestions, and diagrams of how they would like to see the iPod evolve.

To build a link with an earlier post of mine on collaboration, and this post, I then remembered how my favourite (heck... the only shoes I wear) shoe designer, John Fluevog has a section on his site entitled "Open Source Footwear", wherein serious Fluevog owners can submit deisigns for future shoes. The only twist (so far..) is that Fluevog allows site viewers to vote on their favourite designs. The winning design actually gets put into production!!

So, my point is, why are you and your teamates sitting in a conference room beating your heads against the wall trying to create the next big product for your customers? Why don't you let them design it? It's cheaper? And you're right 100% of the time!! Trendwatching.com calls this new trend, yes, I did say TREND - co-production, I call it brilliant.

To make things more exciting, if your 'co-production' site becomes wildly successful, why don't you, as the in-house design team anonymously compete with your customers, and post designs, to test market reaction. To take it even one step further, why not require designers to sign up, prior to posting, that way, if they achieve success after success, you can decide if it's a smart move to HIRE them. Sure beats recruiting costs...

Lets see, cheaper, 100% Guaranteed, and a great source of talent? How fast can you build your site?