The paradox of openness is inherent to all platform ecosystems—the tension in enabling maximum openness to create joint innovation while guaranteeing value capturing for all actors. Governance mechanisms to solve this paradox are embedded into the technical architecture of the platform, addressing the dimensions of access, control, and incentives. Blockchain technology offers unique ways to design novel governance mechanisms through the standardization of interactions. However, the design of such an architecture requires careful consideration of the cost associated with it.

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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