The role of community in the open innovation idea.

In their paper, Joel West and Karim R Lakhani, entitled "Getting Clear About
Communities in Open Innovation" raise few interesting points.

First of all, they try to define what a "community" is based on prior research. Although, ultimately they decide that:
"Here we do not attempt to impose a single definition of “community” applicable to all innovation studies. Instead, we encourage researchers to explicitly articulate the theoretical and phenomenological boundaries of their use of the term, both to build upon earlier scholarship and to enable subsequent scholars to build on them."

Then, they go more into relationship between communities and various firms, as well as intra-community interaction. They focus on the fact that these are highly dependable on the ability of finding a common goal by both sides.

Lastly, they discuss a role of communities in Open Innovation. They agree that "prior research has identified the importance of individuals, firms, networks, industries and nations upon open innovation"; however, they also admit that the role of community has been growing in recent years but seems to be forgotten.

Full text of the article is available here:
http://www.joelwest.org/Papers/WestLakhani2008-WP.pdf