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Abstract: The agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) technology is currently being employed in the field of innovation management research. In the mind of modern complexity science, these models demonstrate the potential to explain the complex nonlinear diffusion patterns observed in the real world due to relatively simple local interactions at the micro-level. However, the literature fails to provide a general framework guiding researchers in designing an innovation ecosystem model. In this context, the aim of this study is twofold: examine the potential of building an ABMS for an innovation ecosystem and propose a preliminary and exploratory conceptual model to help define agents and their interactions in a company's ecosystem. To do so, we employed a systematic literature review. We also illustrate how this framework can be employed through a case study.
Keywords: Agent-based modeling and simulation; Innovation management; Industry 4.0; Innovation ecosystem; Business ecosystem; AnyLogic.
1Introduction
According to Prause and Guenther (2019), Industry 4.0 (I4.0) represents "a federal high-tech strategy" that addresses the challenges of the increasing complexity of production systems and other external challenges. First, Industry 4.0 includes product and process innovation. Second, it consists of a heterogeneous environment of technological assumptions like cybernetic systems and production and business processes integrated with information and communication technology (ICT). Put differently, I4.0 is considered a general term for the technologies and concepts of value chain organization, which impact value creation, business models, services, and work organization (de Paula Ferreira et al., 2020). It can be equivalent to an innovation ecosystem described as a collection for co-creation or co-creation of value. In that sense, building innovation ecosystems represents a key research area, including thinking about decisions, pivot implications, and managing collective uncertainty, the factors that influence more than one actor in the ecosystem (de Vasconcelos Gomes et al., 2018).
I4.0 is directly linked to innovation management. Furthermore, the management problem " involves developing a parameter that describes the company's overall innovation performance" (Tsvetkova et al., 2017). In this study, we focus on the innovation management perspective and the possibility of designing it. The fundamental goal of this study is to examine the use of agent-based modeling and simulation for analyzing innovation ecosystems or business ecosystems through a systematic literature review. This study also proposes a preliminary...