The Evolution of Innovation Communities: Case Studies

While the previous chapter clearly indicated that innovation communities have a significant positive effect on project performance and can therefore be considered a success factor of radical innovation, questions remain concerning the evolution (How does the size and structure of innovation communities change over time?), the performance (How do innovation communities exactly contribute to the success of innovation projects?), and the quality of innovation communities (Which features make them successful?). Against this background, this chapter presents findings from five case studies and answers the questions mentioned above. First the contribution of innovation communities to innovation success will be conceptualized (Sect. 3.1). Then in a second step the construct of community performance is elaborated, consisting of the three sub-constructs of community composition, community identity and community interaction (Sect. 3.2). The research design and methodology for the case studies is described in Sect. 3.3. The following Sects. 3.5–3.9 present the five cases studies that analyze the role of innovation communities in radical innovation processes. The cases were selected to cover various sizes and constellations of communities, and permit insights into different sectors and fields of technology, covering basic new technologies (like carbon nanotubes and dye-sensitized solar cells), new comprehensive usage systems (like the entire value chain of wood crops that are used for power generation), as well as specific products and applications of new technologies (like tilt sensors and smart home networks). Finally, Sect. 3.10 draws conclusions from the specific cases and compares the role and the contributions that the innovation communities have on the evolution, the performance and the quality of innovative projects.