Heading for new Shores: Crowdsourcing for Entrepreneurial Opportunity Creation

In this conceptual paper, we propose crowdsourcing for opportunity creation as a new field of further research in both in the information systems and entrepreneurship domain. Building on previous research on entrepreneurial opportunity creation, we elaborate on the benefits of em-ploying a crowdsourcing approach in order to reduce uncertainty and iteratively develop an op-portunity into a new venture. Based on this assessment we develop a research agenda that high-lights the need to adapt previous crowdsourcing mechanisms for the special context of entrepre-neurial opportunity creation. In doings so, we expand research of crowdsourcing to the field of entrepreneurship by extending the principles of crowdsourcing for innovation for entrepreneuri-al opportunity creation. Further, by highlighting the requirements of crowdsourcing for oppor-tunity creation, we point towards potential future research issues. Such research should examine novel participation architectures that enable the iterative co-creation of an opportunity through different maturity stages, thereby overcoming the limitations of previous crowdsourcing efforts that rather focus on the generation of novel ideas than its evolution. Finally, we propose crowdsourcing as a practical way for entrepreneurs to validate their assumptions about their op-portunity, thereby achieving fast and early product-market fit

An Investigation of Why Low Code Platforms Provide Answers and New Challenges

Although the idea of low code development is not new, the market for these oftentimes platform-based development approaches is exponentially growing. Especially factors such as increasing affinity for technology development across all user groups, consumerization of development, and advancing digitalization are opening a new target group for the low code movement. The broad application possibilities of low code, as well as the benefits, are therefore getting more important for businesses. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), low code constitutes a promising avenue to survive and succeed in the rapidly changing world. However, a clear understanding regarding the application of this paradigm of software development in SMEs is still missing. To provide a coherent understanding of the phenomenon low code in SMEs, we review extant literature and conduct interviews, identifying potential application domains and conceptualizing the benefits and challenges of low code from a holistic perspective

Finding the Unicorn: Predicting Early Stage Startup Success through a Hybrid Intelligence Method

Artificial intelligence is an emerging topic and will soon be able to perform decisions better than humans. In more complex and creative contexts such as innovation, however, the question remains whether machines are superior to humans. Machines fail in two kind of situations: processing and interpreting “soft” information (information that cannot be quantified) and making predictions in “unknowable risk” situations of extreme uncertainty. In such situations, the machine does not have representative information for a certain outcome. Thereby, humans are still the “gold standard” for assessing “soft” signals and make use intuition. To predict the success of startups, we, thus, combine the complementary capabilities of humans and machines in a Hybrid Intelligence method. To reach our aim, we follow a design science research approach to develop a Hybrid Intelligence method that combines the strength of both machine and collective intelligence to demonstrate its utility for predictions under extreme uncertainty

Computed Tomography (CT) of five samples of the Sutter's Mill CM2 chondrite.

These files supplement Jenniskens et al. (2012), a comprehensive description of the April 22, 2012 fall and the petrology of the Sutter‟s Mill CM2 chondrite breccia. Here, we present 3-dimensional scans of individual stones of this meteorite. A “Methods” document in this repository records particulars of CT (see Ebel and Rivers 2007). In the Science paper, we note that “samples SM3 and SM9 appear to contain a dominant lithology characterized by abundant 200 to 400 μm diameter clasts (chondrules or CAIs), and 0.05 - 0.15 μm metal oxide or sulfide grains. A second lithology, with higher average atomic mass (Z) matrix and more abundant clasts, appears as irregular, angular lithic fragments many mm in size. At least one metal grain ~250 μm across, was observed, surrounded by a halo ~750 μm wide, of oxidized or sulfidized metal. It is unlikely that such a grain would be sampled by random cutting. Several clasts larger than 1 mm include a low-Z spherical object that appears to be concentrically zoned, and a similar object with zoned high-Z (metal) and low-Z (silicate) layers. While the samples are fractured, and metal grains appear to be altered, no high-Z veins (e.g., FeO-rich) are observed.” And, “the meteorites studied so far exhibit a dominant, primary lithology that is the host for multiple types of exotic lithic clasts.” This lithology is evident in most of SM3. In SM3_13A, at ~30/45 sec running time, more lithic clasts appear, and a large metal-cored grain rimmed by metal sulfide or oxide, appears briefly. The oriented sample SM51 illustrates the asymmetry of fusion crust, thick on the trailing side, very thin on the leading side (top of movie), and thickest at the „lip‟ between these surfaces (image right). A slightly brighter clast (higher average Z) that intersects the leading side fusion crust at ~60/100 sec illustrates a small effect of its composition on crust thickness and composition. A clast-poor lithology is prevalent through the first half of the stack. A large metal grain is present at ~57/100. Two large chondrules appear in SM51 at ~72/100 sec, and the lithology between there and the end is rich in low Z (forsterite-rich?) spherical clasts. In SM54S, fusion crust is very prominent, sweeping left to right in the first few seconds. Several lithologies are present, perhaps four at ~11/83 sec. This sample has some low-Z terrestrial contamination, a reddish clay, that thinly fills small depressions in the sample at the bottom of the images. References Ebel, D. S. and M. L. Rivers. 2007. Meteorite 3-dimensional synchrotron micro-tomography: Methods and applications. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 42: 1627-1646. Jenniskens, P. and 69 coauthors. 2012. Radar enabled recovery of the Sutter‟s Mill meteorite, a carbonaceous chondrite regolith breccia. Science 21 December 2012: Vol. 338 no. 6114 pp. 1583-1587. DOI: 10.1126/science.122716

Research article - Comet 81P/Wild 2 under a microscope

The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales