Crowdfunding: a new driver of user innovation

Crowdfunding has emerged as an innovating way of funding for individuals and companies, alternative to traditional fund-raising and centered on user innovation. It represents a new business model designed to support the entrepreneurial spirit from those who have innovative ideas, launch them in designed platforms and create new products and services with crowd’s support. However, due to its multidimensional and multi actors’ nature, past contributions on the topic are few and scattered across different fields, not giving a comprehensive view of the phenomenon. The aim of this research is to analyze the multifaceted crowdfunding concept in a holistic perspective, to investigate potential developments of the phenomenon and to propose future lines of research to increase the understanding of this complex yet attractive topic. We analyze the three main actors’ perspectives: online platforms, entrepreneurs and the crowd, explaining how the meaning of funding and the role of users is changing through crowdfunding initiatives, presenting an example of a successful crowdfunding project as well as critics moved to it. Furthermore, directions for future research are presented.