Consumer Empowerment: What and Why?

The second French-German workshop about Consumer Empowerment took place at the University of Karlsruhe (KIT) between January 10–11, 2013. Within the scope of consumer empowerment scientists discussed recent developments in this field and established cross-disciplinary cooperations in their own fields of research. Consumer empowerment is deeply rooted in the human dreams and phantasies of a good life: The Jinns in Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp – one of the most famous stories of One Thousand and One Nights translated by Antoine Galland in 1709 – empower and enable the bearer of the enchanted lamp to fulfill all his wishes and desires (Fulda, 1912). But scientists do not believe in Jinns: Today, technological progress has brought this dream to the brink of realization: Internet services as modern Jinns empower and enable consumers to participate in new ways in the design, production, and fulfillment of products and services for their wants. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s vision of the future of man (Teilhard de Chardin, 1963) rests on the extrapolation of biological and social evolution: he predicts that the human race will evolve and will reach a transhuman stage (ultra human). With the rapid development