The course reviews and analyzes current theories of ecosystems in the fields of Information Systems, Organization Studies and Business Strategy and Innovation. Much of current ecosystem formation and the business relationships it entails evolve around the production, sharing, analysis and exchange of a variety of resources in a context that is pervaded by the use of digital and data handling technologies. The course confronts several perspectives on ecosystems and examines the technological foundations on the basis of which ecosystems are built, maintained and governed. Among the key objectives of the course is 1) provide an in-depth understanding of the wider economic and business environment within which ecosystems develop, 2) show the contribution which information and communication technologies make to the establishment of ecosystems and 3) analyze how data becomes a pervasive resource of ecosystem relations and the practices by which data are generated, exchanged, commercialized and, more widely, involved in the dealings of ecosystem participants. The course provides key concepts, frameworks and perspectives for the analysis of digital ecosystems and the business environments in which they thrive. An important objective is to provide an understanding of what ecosystems are and how they form, develop and decline, and give students the analytic tools that help map, assess and control the operations of ecosystems and ecosystem participants.

On successful completion of the course students will be able to: - Identify the forces (e.g., network effects) and processes (e.g., resource and data complementarities) that drive digital ecosystem formation. - Link resource exchanges and practices of data generation and use to the forces and processes that drive ecosystem formation. - Dissect and analyze the technological architectures and functionalities that enable the building of links, data generation and sharing and map them to the development of business relationships. - Link ecosystems and the data practices underlying them to business objectives and processes. Making judgements: Students will be able to link the technological processes and types of data that drive ecosystem formation to business dynamics and the services which ecosystem participants produce in conjunction with one another. The course will use several empirical examples of ecosystems that illustrate how conceptual ideas and tools are linked to real life situations and help students develop, tune and try out their analytical skills. Communication Skills: The course aims at providing students the key terms on the subject and acquaint them with the vocabularies, concepts and descriptive resources used in the analysis of digital ecosystems. The course will pay due emphasis on active student participation, class talk, oral presentations but also written assignments. Learning skills: The course entails a good deal of analytic techniques that are expected to give students the ability to analyze and map the technological and business forces that drive ecosystem formation. Blending workshop and practical cases the course will furthermore give students the necessary skills to apply knowledge and understanding to particular cases.

1. Course Introduction: content overview, participation rules, exam etc 2. The Advent of Ecosystems 3. Student Case Presentation, Flowe 4. Mapping, Analysing and Designing Ecosystems 5. The Dynamics of Platforms and Ecosystems 6. Architecture of Platforms and Ecosystems: Modularity 7. Boundary Resources and Ecosystems 8. Industrial Platform Ecosystems 9. Data, Platforms and Ecosystems 10. Data Ecosystems and Infrastructures 11. Course Overview

- Alaimo, C. and Kallinikos, J. (2024). Data Rules: Reinventing the Market Economy, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. - Alaimo, C., Kallinikos, J. and Sannino, F. (2021). The Platformization of Banking: The Case of Flowe, Luiss Teaching Cases. - Alaimo, C., Kallinikos, J., & Valderrama, E. (2020). Platforms as Service Ecosystems: Lessons from Social Media. Journal of Information Technology, 35(1), 25-48. - Jovanovic, M., Sjödin, D. and Parida, V. (2021). Co-evolution of Platform Architecture, Platform Services, and Platform Governance: Expanding the Platform Value of Industrial Digital Platforms, Technovation, 102218. - Moore, J.F. (1993) Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition, Harvard Business Review, May-June, pp. 76-86 - Swanson, B. (2021). When Data Becomes Infrastructure and our Lives Depend on it, Twenty-Ninth European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2021. - Talmar et al. (2020). Mapping, Analyzing and Designing Innovation Ecosystems: The Ecosystem Pie Model, Long Range Planning, 53/4. - Van Alstyne, M. W., Parker, G. G., & Choudary, S. P. (2016). Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 94(4), 54-62. - Van Alstyne, M. W., Parker, G. G., & Choudary, S. P. (2016b). Platform Revolution, London: Norton.

- The course is based on lectures and in-class exercises and illustrations organized around each one of the lecture topics. The topics covers key ideas and perspectives on ecosystems while the classes entail additional material and cases that exemplify the key ideas presented on each lecture. - Students are expected to actively participate in the classes through questions, practical and theoretical elaborations and other contributions.

- In-class written test (30%) - Oral examination (70%)

- None