Innovation is an experience to capitalize in several ways. New products and services creation is an experience. Experiences are added with open and participatory creation processes. These capitalize through competence building, organizational change, continuous innovation and co-creation with users.  

It is all a matter of experiences. The research reviews and applies innovation system analysis to the classical experience realms concept in order to capture the innovation experience of different types of interaction and learning in the phases of product and service development from idea to market launch.

Cases on open innovation across the Danish tourism and cultural services and the energy and construction sectors display that different innovation experience realms evolve in user interactions. Cases have been developed in an ongoing regional development project on competence building for innovation with private business firms in the sectors. This provides the basis for outlining lessons in a set of experience management principles for open innovation. These principles are relevant for all participants in the co-creation of new products and services.