Communitition: The Tension between Competition and Collaboration in Community-Based Design Contests

Following the concepts of crowdsourcing, co-creation or open innovation, companies are increasingly using contests to foster the generation of creative solutions. Currently, online idea and design contests are enjoying a resurgence through the usage of new information and communication technologies. These virtual platforms allow users both to competitively disclose their creative ideas to corporations and also to interact and collaborate with like-minded peers, communicating, discussing and sharing their insights and experiences, building social networks and establishing a sense of community. Little research has considered that contest communities both promote and benefit from simultaneous co-operation and competition and that both types of relationships need to be emphasized at the same time. In this article, it is argued that the firm-level concept of co-opetition might also be relevant for an innovation's success on the individual level within contest communities. Our concept of 'communitition' should include the elements of competitive participation without disabling the climate for co-operation, as numerous user discussions and comments improve the quality of submitted ideas and allow the future potential of an idea to shine through the so-called 'wisdom of the crowd'.