In open innovation initiatives for sustainability-oriented innovations, it is indispensable to have a wide array of engaging stakeholders. Yet, as not all relevant actors are able or willing to participate, important opinions can go unnoticed. Due to such stakeholder selection effects, aspects of high relevance may remain uncaptured. To address this issue, we first define the concept of silent stakeholders and relate it to sustainability-oriented innovations. We then discuss the new approach of employing analytical methods to examine existing sources outside the innovation process for silent stakeholder opinions. For this purpose, we conduct an action research study demonstrating how to examine broad discourse data with text analytics for an open innovation project aiming to create a sustainability-oriented innovation. To this end, we develop an approach for the efficient integration of external sources in open innovation processes. We find that text analytics of broad discourse data can particularly support the orientation and idea generation phase for sustainability-oriented innovation. Furthermore, we identify possibilities for the application of further data mining methods to complement open innovation approaches along the innovation process. Building on that, we propose an integrated framework. Hence, we add to the literature on stakeholder participation, analytical methods and innovation management, as well as sustainability-oriented innovation.

Innovation in the medical technology (med tech) industry has a major impact on well-being in society. Open innovation has the potential to accelerate the development of new or improved healthcare solutions. Building on work system theory (WST), this paper explores how a multi-sided open innovation platform can systematically be established in a German med tech industry cluster in situations where firms had no prior experience with this approach. We aim to uncover problems that may arise and identify opportunities for overcoming them. We performed an action research study in which we implemented and evaluated a multi-sided web-based open innovation platform in four real-world innovation challenges. Analyzing the four different challenges fostered a deeper understanding of the conceptual and organizational aspects of establishing the multi-sided open innovation platform as part of a larger work system. Reflecting on the findings, we developed five design principles that shall support the establishment of multi-sided open innovation platforms in other contexts. Thus, this paper contributes to both theory and practice.