The Openness between Platforms

What Changes in an IoT Context?

Master Thesis (2019)
Author(s)

L.E. Mosterd (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)

Contributor(s)

Mark De Reuver – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Information and Communication Technology)

Aaron Yi Ding – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Information and Communication Technology)

Geerten Van De Kaa – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Economics of Technology and Innovation)

Faculty
Technology, Policy and Management
Copyright
© 2019 Lars Mosterd
More Info
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Publication Year
2019
Language
English
Copyright
© 2019 Lars Mosterd
Graduation Date
05-09-2019
Awarding Institution
Delft University of Technology
Programme
['Complex Systems Engineering and Management (CoSEM)']
Faculty
Technology, Policy and Management
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Abstract

The main problem hampering innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT) is the fragmentation and lack of interoperability between IoT platforms. A possible solution for IoT platform sponsors to overcome this problem is to open up towards other platforms. To better understand how the IoT platform market is evolving and to inform future decisions regarding the desired degree of openness between IoT platforms, this thesis aimed to develop a theory on the openness between IoT platforms by identifying, prioritizing and theorizing the interrelations between factors driving the decisions from IoT platform owners related to the openness of their platform towards other IoT platforms. To this end, a preliminary theoretical framework was developed which was used as input for 13 semi-structured interviews with decision makers and field experts. It was found that openness between platforms is mostly driven by complementarities. Due to the cyber-physical nature of the IoT, the domain is characterised by a high need for specialisation and platforms are often developed from a product-centric, bottom-up approach. This results in a fragmented market in which there are strong complementarities between IoT platforms. It is found that these complementarities are the main factor driving the openness between IoT platforms.

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