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Innovation Contests: Systematization of the Field and Future Research

The ability to generate innovative products and services is a critical success factor for organizations. The trend of open innovation has brought about many-faceted, IT-based tools (e.g., lead user method or online tool kits), among these, the innovation contest seems particularly promising and continuously gains in importance as a corporate practice. However, a deep understanding of this online innovation practice is still lacking. Contrary to other methods used to realize open innovation, research in the field of online innovation contests displays a growing, but only rudimentarily intertwined body of publications. This paper provides the quintessential systematization of the field by integration of academic knowledge and business deployment. Juxtaposing 33 relevant journal and conference publications with empirical basis and an analysis of 57 real-world innovation contests, interesting disruptions are pointed to and six pathways for future research are described. These cover the optimal degree of elaboration, the interplay of competition and community, the importance of community applications, the trajectory toward open evaluation, and the identification of additional design elements.