In this article, we develop a programmatic notion of innovation ecosystems, which emphasizes the analysis of different forms of distributed innovation without reducing the perspective to the role of a focal organization. It highlights relationships between communities and corporate firms as nexus for distributed innovation and elaborates how different facets of openness shape the dynamic of the ecosystem. Thus, our model allows for the analysis and comparison of a broad scope of constellations, their particular coordinating mechanisms as well as related advantages and disadvantages. We apply this framework to two specific cases of distributed innovation, the RepRap 3D printer and the ARA modular smartphone, in order to delineate how differences in the forms of openness affect the prevalent relationships between communities and firms as well as the constituting functions of their particular innovation ecosystem.

This chapter examines open source communities as distinct environments for distributed innovation. Focusing on open source 3D printing communities, we investigate approaches to entrepreneurial action and map various types of business models and their perceived legitimacy by the community. Although the community-focused mode works well for the explorative part of innovation, we find that it imposes limitations on actors who aim to diffuse-i.e., exploit-novel products. By qualitatively analyzing startup companies that emerge from or engage with open source 3D printing communities, we identify three main strategies to manage the interplay of community-and market-based settings and the associated levels of reciprocity.

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In this chapter we point out how the general dynamics of decentralization and digitalization aggregate in two distinct ideal types of value creation: one updates the firm-based mode of a top-down approach and the other represents an alternative mode of bottom-up coordination that is more community-driven. For each mode, we contrast the most prevalent approaches to integrating novel technologies such as 3D printing and link them to innovative concepts of production. Having offered this distinction, we elaborate on associated manufacturing constellations and discuss the potential impact of hybrid arrangements.