The Impact of Digital Platforms and Ecosystems on Innovation and New Product Development

While the transformative impact of digital platforms on new product development (NPD) is widely acknowledged, its theoretical underpinnings and multi-dimensional implications across digital architecture, information systems, software development processes and business strategy remain fragmented. This paper addresses this gap by critically examining the infusion of information technology (IT) across four key NPD dimensions: process, project management, information/knowledge management, and collaboration. The central contribution is a novel conceptual framework that integrates core platform principles—specifically generativity and network effects—with these four dimensions of digitally-embedded NPD. This framework is used to demonstrate how platforms cultivate dynamic innovation networks, fostering new modes of value co-creation and challenging established organisational structures. The findings highlight critical strategic implications for firms, primarily the exigent need for new governance mechanisms to navigate the transformative potential and systemic challenges of platform-based innovation and ecosystem.