Why space companies should understand more about platform models

Platforms have revolutionised many industries, giving rise to new ventures with innovative business models and helping legacy ones to maintain their competitive advantage. By adopting platforms, organisations can define new development and production processes, support innovation within their ecosystem, enhance interconnections and generate additional revenue streams. The space economy is also increasingly experiencing the diffusion of platforms, both from new space and legacy companies. Platforms not only enable organisations to create greater value but also support adopters in facing the transformations and challenges characterising the domain. However, their role has been under-investigated in the space economy literature. To fill this gap, our study aims to investigate how platforms support business innovation in the space economy. To address this, we adopt the concept of platform models, which has already been applied in other industrial settings, to unfold business innovation mechanisms enabled by existing platforms in the space economy. Methodologically, we take a qualitative approach, using multiple case studies. We examine eight cases of organisations within the space economy value chain that integrate platform models in their business processes. Our findings showcase a variety of mechanisms at organisational and ecosystem levels. This study contributes to the literature by framing the role of different platform models in fostering business innovation in the space economy. Furthermore, we inform practitioners in the space economy about the benefits that different actors can obtain by leveraging platform models.