SOI Discussion Paper: Open Source Projects as Incubators of Innovation
14. Mai 2017In der Reihe Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Organisations- und Innovationssoziologie ist ein neues Discussion Paper mit dem Titel »Open Source Projects as Incubators of Innovation. From Niche Phenomenon to Integral Part of the Software Industry« (Volltext) erschienen:
Over the last 20 years, open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. […] Further, I examine why open source projects have mainly lost their subversive potential while, in contrast to former cases of collective invention, remaining viable beyond the emergence of predominant solutions and their commercial exploitation: In an industry that is characterized by very short innovation cycles, open source projects have proven to be important incubators for new product lines and branch-defining infrastructures. They do not compete against classical forms of production but instead complement and expand these.