Cuusoo – which means ‘imagination’ or ‘wish’ in Japanese – allows Lego fans to submit ideas for products which other site users can then vote on. Any product that attracts more than 10,000 votes will have a chance of becoming a Lego product, with the creator in line to earn 1% of total net salesl.

Japanese firm Cuusoo System, part of Elephant Design, has worked with Lego on the crowd-sourcing platform since 2008.

Paal Smith-Meyer, head of Lego’s new business group, said: “We see this as an investment in the future rather than for immediate sales gain. We are moving from a local Japanese pilot to see if the model is sustainable. We were pleased with the initial results, but we need to see how it will perform on a global platform with global distribution.”

The first Cuusoo-created product, a model of the Shinkai 6500 submersible (pictured), went on sale in Japan in February 2011. The next is due in early 2012.