%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2017 %T The Core Interaction of Platforms: How Startups Connect Users and Producers %A Heidi M. E. Korhonen %A Kaisa Still %A Marko Seppänen %A Miika Kumpulainen %A Arho Suominen %A Katri Valkokari %K core interaction %K digital platforms %K multisided markets %K platform business %K platform canvas %K slush event %K startups %K value creation %X The platform economy is disrupting innovation while presenting both opportunities and challenges for startups. Platforms support value creation between multiple participant groups, and this operationalization of an ecosystem’s value co-creation represents the “core interaction” of a platform. This article focuses on that core interaction and studies how startups connect producers and users in value-creating core interaction through digital platforms. The study is based on an analysis of 29 cases of platform startups interviewed at a leading European startup event. The studied startups were envisioning even millions of users and hundreds or thousands of producers co-creating value on their platforms. In such platform businesses, our results highlight the importance of attracting a large user pool, providing novel services to those users, offering a new market for producers, supporting the core interaction in various ways, and utilizing elements of the platform canvas – an adaptation of the business model canvas, which we have accommodated for platform-based business models – to accomplish these goals. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 7 %P 17-29 %8 09/2017 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/1103 %N 9 %1 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Heidi M. E. Korhonen, PhD, works as a Senior Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, in the Business, Innovation, and Foresight research area. She is a professional in business development and research with a long experience of industrial and technology companies. Dr. Korhonen has a Doctor of Science (Tech.) degree from Aalto University School of Science, Finland. Her doctoral dissertation covers customer orientation in industrial service innovation and highlights ecosystems interaction and value co-creation in innovation. The recent work of Dr. Korhonen focuses on digitalization and supporting innovation and ecosystems development in the platform economy. Dr. Korhonen has published her research widely in international peer-reviewed journals, books, and conferences. %2 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Kaisa Still is a Senior Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. She has extensive experience of innovation management gained within a research organization, a university, a business incubator, as well as in a startup and in a growth company. Supporting collaboration, co-creation, and innovation with technology continues to be at the core of her interests. Her current work concentrates on platforms and innovation ecosystems, accelerating innovation activities, and digital opportunities. Combined with the policy perspective, her work extends to private and public organizations in regional and global contexts. %3 Tampere University of Technology Marko Seppänen, PhD, is a Full Professor in the field of Industrial Management at Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Prof. Seppänen is an expert in managing value creation in business ecosystems, business concept development, and innovation management. In his latest research, he has examined, for example, platform-based competition in business ecosystems and innovation management in business networks. His research has appeared in high-quality peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, the Journal of Systems and Software, and the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. %4 Tampere University of Technology Miika Kumpulainen, MSc (Tech), is a doctoral candidate at Tampere University of Technology in Finland. His thesis will cover business relationships and digitalization, and his research interests are in interorganizational relationships and platform ecosystems. Kumpulainen has ten years’ work experience in purchasing functions in industry. %# VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Arho Suominen, PhD, is Senior Scientist in the Innovations, Economy, and Policy unit at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and he also lectures at the Department of Information Technology at the University of Turku. Suominen is also the chairman of the board and co-founder of Teqmine Analytics Ltd, a patent and technology intelligence company. Dr. Suominen’s research focuses on qualitative and quantitative assessment of innovation systems. His research has been funded by the Academy of Finland, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology, and the Fulbright Center Finland. Dr. Suominen has published work in several journals, including Technological Forecasting and Social Change, the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Science and Public Policy, Scientometrics, the Journal of Systems and Software, and Foresight. Dr. Suominen has a Doctor of Science (Tech.) degree from the University of Turku and holds an Officer’s basic degree from the National Defence University of Finland. %$ VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Katri Valkokari works as a Research Manager at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in the Business, Innovation and Foresight research area. Over the past 15 years, she has carried out several development projects concerning different networked business arrangements (ecosystems, networks, partnerships, and firms). In 2009, Katri completed her doctoral thesis on business network development. She has published several international and national articles in the research areas of business network management, collaboration, organizational knowledge, and innovation management. %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1103