Product development and open innovation for ecosystems of embedded systems

Purpose and goal

This project aims to examine how the development of embedded systems, which moves towards the possibility to dynamically add software functionality, can be used for increased customization and open innovation. The project´s pre-study has substantially met its goal, which was to make a thorough survey of research and planning for a major project. This has been done in close collaboration with industry partners identified before and during the project.

Results and expected effects

Results of the project are a survey of the research, as well as a deeper analysis of industry needs and challenges in this. One effect of this has been to identify a number of types of actors in the ecosystem, and to establish contacts with companies representing these roles. An application for a major project has subsequently been developed in close collaboration with these companies. This means that the expected impact of the pre-study has been reached.

Approach and implementation

The project´s main activities have been survey, analysis, and synthesis. The survey has consisted of extensive reviews of the research literature in the field. In the analysis, interviews with 15 people in 9 companies were carried out, to identify the actors, business models, product architectures, and the needs of process, methods and tools in the ecosystem. The synthesis has been to document a comprehensive picture of the challenges in the field, and disseminate the results to the participating companies, and to develop an application for a major project.