Innovation Collectives in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis: How Digital Technologies Facilitate the Innovation Process of Ventilator Development

The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe led to a sudden increase in demand for medical ventilators to treat severely ill patients. In this work, we conduct case study research on the initiatives founded during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that developed ventilators to address this shortage. Using a mixed-method design, we investigate the development of these ventilators, emphasizing digital technologies that enable a shift in the way innovation collectives form, communicate, and collaborate during a phase of shutdown and social distancing. First, we identify and gather data from 118 initiatives and use quantitative analysis to discover correlations among the data. Then, as qualitative analysis, we conduct interviews to shed light on the underlying innovation process mechanisms. We find new practical implications for innovation management and provide new insights about a new decentralized development process in communitie