Richard,
I don’t know what would stop anyone from self/publishing and distributing their own case study, as you suggest as a way around the IDSA Catalyst program. The “value added” that IDSA Catalyst gives that would be difficult to replicate is the peer review and “authenticity” that is provided by: Ravi Sawhney, CEO, RKS; Arvind Bhambri, Ph.D, USC; Robert Blaich, FIDSA, Former Design Director and Board Member, Philips; Tim Brown, IDSA, CEO, IDEO; Sam Farber, H/IDSA, Founder, OXO; Chuck Jones, FIDSA, VP, Whirlpool; Lorraine Justice, Ph.D Hong Kong Polytech; Steve Kaneko, FIDSA, Design Director, Microsoft; Guy Kawasaki; Sam Lucente, Design Director, HP; Tom Matano, IDSA, Exec Designer and Gen Mgr, Mazda Design; Imre Molnar, Dean, CCS; Ken Musgrave, IDSA, Design Director, Dell; Elie Ofak, Ph.D, Harvard B School; Bob Schwartz, FIDSA, Gen Mgr, Global Design, GE Healthcare; Linda Tischler, Fast Company; Lorrie Vogel, Gen Mgr, Considered Design, Nike; Helen Walters, Editor, Innovation and Design, BusinessWeek;
Patrick Whitney, Dean, Illinois Institute of Technology.
I don’t know if you consider that value added but if I were buying a case study I would give it a lot of credence.
George McCain, FIDSA
Affiliate Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, Design Division, School of Art
University of Washington
President-Elect, IDSA