Firm Strategies in Open Internet of Things Business Ecosystems: Framework and Case Study

We present a typology of strategies employed by firms using the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is a distributed network of connected physical objects. As these devices exchange data with each other instead of through an intermediary, the IoT increases complexity of business ecosystems, and opens up new business opportunities. When the platform owner does not own the data and technology is mostly open source, other actors can use and build on them. In addition to platform owner’s strategy, we propose a framework with three additional strategies, based on whether the firms’ offering integrates into the specific industrial value chain or contributes to the IoT ecosystem, and whether the firm offering is by nature stand-alone or systemic. With a multiple case study design, we explore this framework in the setting of 23 firms in a large research project context. The descriptions of the identified IoT strategies support our framework

Smart Cities as Innovation Ecosystems sustained by the Future Internet

FIREBALL White paperThe White Paper focuses on how European cities are currently developing strategies towards becoming "smarter cities" and the lessons we can draw for the future. Such strategies are based on an assessment of the future needs of cities and innovative usages of ICTs embodied in the broadband Internet and Internet-based applications now and foreseen for the future. These strategies are also based on a new understanding of innovation, grounded in the concept of open innovation ecosystems, global innovation chains, and on citizens' empowerment for shaping innovation and urban development. This White Paper is one of the main outcomes of the FIREBALL project (www.fireball4smartcities.eu), a Coordination Action within the 7th Framework Programme for ICT, running in the period 2010-2012. The aim of FIREBALL is to bring together communities and stakeholders who are active in three areas: (1) research and experimentation on the Future Internet (FIRE); (2) open and user-driven innovation (Living Labs); and (3) urban development. The goal is to develop a common vision and a common view on how the different approaches, methodologies, policies and technologies in these areas can be aligned to boost innovation and socio-economic development of cities. The White Paper has explored the landscape of "smart cities" as environments of open and user driven innovation sustained by Future Internet technologies and services. Smart cities are also seen as environments enabled by advanced ICT infrastructure for testing and validating current Future Internet research and experimentation. Overall, the smart city is built upon a triangle of "City" - "Open Innovation Ecosystems" - "Future Internet" components. The White Paper explores also how cities and urban areas represent a critical mass when it comes to shaping the demand for advanced Internet-based services in large-scale testing and validation. Shaping this demand informs ongoing research, experimentation and deployment activities related to Future Internet testbeds, and helps establishing a dialogue between the different communities involved in the development of the future Internet and user-driven environments, to form partnerships and assess social and economic benefits and discovery of migration paths at early stages. Based on a holistic instead of technology merely driven perspective on smart cities, we consider necessary to revisit the concept of the Smart City itself. The concept of the smart city that emerges from FIREBALL can be summarized as follows: "The smart city concept is multi-dimensional. It is a future scenario (what to achieve), even more it is an urban development strategy (how to achieve it). It focuses on how (Internet-related) technologies enhance the lives of citizens. This should not be interpreted as drawing the smart city technology scenario. Rather, the smart city is how citizens are shaping the city in using this technology, and how citizens are enabled to do so. The smart city is about how people are empowered, through using technology, for contributing to urban change and realizing their ambitions. The smart city provides the conditions and resources for change. In this sense, the smart city is an urban laboratory, an urban innovation ecosystem, a living lab, an agent of change. Much less do we see a smart city in terms of a Ranking. This ranking is a moment in time, a superficial result of underlying changes, not the mechanism of transformation. The smart city is the engine of transformation, a generator of solutions for wicked problems, it is how the city is behaving smart.

Nordic Network of User-Driven Innovation and Livinglabbing

Over the past decade, Living Labs have become an established part of local and regional innovation systems, using a variety of methods and tools, and focusing on a wide array of domains and themes

Living Labs for Cross-Border Systemic Innovation

Innovation is increasingly taking place in cross-border collaborative networks, which are shaped by the characteristics of systemic innovation, the strategies and objectives of main actors, and the dynamics of the innovation process. Participation in such networks is of high importance for small firms, but requires long-term investments and a diverse range of collaboration and innovation capabilities. This article explores how living labs, understood as innovation projects based on open and user-centric innovation methodologies, can form collaboration networks to support small firms and other actors to engage in cross-border collaboration and to accelerate the development and acceptance of innovations. Based on the lessons learned from a major living lab project, APOLLON, we conclude that adopting the living labs networking approach requires thorough understanding of each party’s objectives and drivers, the alignment of operational processes, establishment of open and collaborative culture, as well as competences, methods, and tools for supporting cooperation and community building

Enabling the mapping of internet of things ecosystem business models through roles and activities in value co-creation

The increasing connectivity provided by the Internet of Things (IoT) supports novel business opportunities for actors’ overlapping service systems. Therefore, the co-creative nature of IoT business needs to be further studied. This paper contributes to the understudied area of IoT ecosystem dynamics by reporting an empirical study on a European IoT initiative and describing different actor roles and activities in the IoT use cases, and their implications for IoT ecosystem value creation. The paper shows how IoT ecosystem actors may take the roles of Ideator, Designer, or Intermediary in different design layers, and, recommends this approach to better understand and describe ecosystem business models. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.Peer reviewe

Value Creation in the Internet of Things: Mapping Business Models and Ecosystem Roles

The increasing connectivity provided by the Internet of Things (IoT) supports novel business opportunities for actors in overlapping service systems. Therefore, the co-creative nature of IoT business needs to be further studied. This article reports an empirical study on a European IoT initiative. It contributes to the understudied area of IoT ecosystem dynamics by describing different actor roles and activities in the IoT use cases, and their implications for value creation in IoT ecosystems. Our findings show how IoT ecosystem actors may take the roles of ideator, designer, or intermediary in different IoT design layers, and we recommend this perspective to better understand and describe ecosystem business models. We also discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings

Technological Theory of Cloud Manufacturing

Over the past decade, a flourishing number of concepts and architectural shifts appeared such as the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, Big Data, 3D printing, etc. Such concepts are reshaping traditional manufacturing models, which become increasingly network-, service- and intelligent manufacturing-oriented. It sometimes becomes difficult to have a clear vision of how all those concepts are interwoven and what benefits they bring to the global picture (either from a service or business perspective). This paper traces the evolution of the manufacturing paradigms, highlighting the recent shift towards Cloud Manufacturing (CMfg), along with a taxonomy of the technological concepts and technologies underlying CMfg

Cross border living labs network to support SMEs accesing new markets

In the last years there has been an increasing number of Living Labs throughout Europe, which are gradually forming a vibrant and still growing community. Several Living Lab networks have been set up on the European, the regional, and the national levels which mainly exchange high-level principles and best practices for individual Living Lab set-up and implementation. This paper focuses on the next steps that these networks must take in order to support SMEs for innovation and gaining access to new markets. The paper presents a methodology framework for cross-border living labs networks supporting SMEs based on network management, which uses results from four cross-border living labs networking experiments in four different settings. The methodology identifies and addresses key challenges for cross-border living labs networking in each setting. The paper presents initial results of methodology development and discusses various challenges in applying the methodology framework to the specific context of homecare and independent living solutions.Godkänd; 2011; 20111213 (andbra

Cross border living labs network to support SMEs accesing new markets

In the last years there has been an increasing number of Living Labs throughout Europe, which are gradually forming a vibrant and still growing community. Several Living Lab networks have been set up on the European, the regional, and the national levels which mainly exchange high-level principles and best practices for individual Living Lab set-up and implementation. This paper focuses on the next steps that these networks must take in order to support SMEs for innovation and gaining access to new markets. The paper presents a methodology framework for cross-border living labs networks supporting SMEs based on network management, which uses results from four cross-border living labs networking experiments in four different settings. The methodology identifies and addresses key challenges for cross-border living labs networking in each setting. The paper presents initial results of methodology development and discusses various challenges in applying the methodology framework to the specific context of homecare and independent living solutions.Godkänd; 2011; 20111213 (andbra