Focusing the ecosystem lens on innovation studies

Carliss Y. Baldwin, Marcel L.A.M. Bogers, Rahul Kapoor, Joel West*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)
6 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

For nearly a century, the key role of innovation in economic growth has been acknowledged and studied. Today, innovations are increasingly understood as being embedded in ecosystems of autonomous actors, whether firms, other organizations, or individuals. These actors contribute in complementary ways to create a value proposition that is greater than the sum of the parts, with the integration of their products and processes made possible by modular interfaces between actors. Here we review the emergence of the ecosystem lens within innovation studies in the context of the Special Issue on Innovation Ecosystems and Ecosystem Innovation. After summarizing the history of the special issue, we review the nine articles in the special issue and show how they relate to defining the actors, joint value creation by the actors, coordinating the actors, value capture by the actors, and then the large issue of analyzing ecosystems as the unit of analysis. From this, we offer suggestions for future ecosystem research, including opportunities to combine the ecosystem lens with other lenses used in innovation studies, and new methods for studying ecosystem phenomena.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104949
JournalResearch Policy
Volume53
Issue number3
Number of pages13
ISSN0048-7333
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors

Keywords

  • Complementarity
  • Ecosystem governance
  • Ecosystems
  • Platforms
  • Value capture
  • Value creation

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