Crowdsourcing as an Innovation Strategy: A Study on Innovation Platforms in Austria and Switzerland

Milica Sundic and Karl-Heinz Leitner ()
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Milica Sundic: A1 Telekom Austria, Vienna, Austria

Communications & Strategies, 2013, vol. 1, issue 89, 55-72

Abstract: In this paper we present results from a study on three innovation platforms in Switzerland and Austria. We conducted studies of crowdsourcing platforms run by the Swiss 'Atizo.com', 3M Austria's 'Zukunft-Innovation' and A1 Telekom Austria's 'A1 Innovations' including interviews with the companies and community members. Motives and incentive-systems for crowdsourcing are analysed from the participant's as well as from the company's point of view. Further, the study discusses the risks of crowdsourcing and the importance of intellectual property in an age of rapid idea diffusion and imitation. The examined case studies show overall positive experiences with crowdsourcing and crowd-based idea-contests. However, at the same time the analysed open communities also show a tendency for a closure as we found evidence that over a longer period of time a small group of actors emerges, which provides similar problem solving strategies repeatedly.

Keywords: crowdsourcing; innovation platforms; motivation; intellectual property. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L24 M10 M15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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http://repec.idate.org/RePEc/idt/journl/CS8903/CS89_SUNDIC_LEITNER.pdf

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