Finding Triggers for Innovation Within eSports

Abstract: Since the creation of the internet there has been a development towards a globalized community of people. With the potential for connectivity between people all over the world subcultures are inevitably created. One such subculture is eSports. Over the past decade eSports has seen a steady increase in popularity. Recently, partly as a result of the streaming revolution, this increase has intensified and traditional media look to the internet for inspiration and help on what to do to evolve their business into the future. This paper looks to combine data from interviews conducted with people active and working in the eSports industry with theories and research in innovation, creativity, intelligence gathering and trendspotting with the goal of finding answers to What triggers innovation within the eSports industry? as well as provide suggestions for further research. The researchers suggest that eSports is a novel and unique area with high potential for new scientific developments within innovation and creativity as well as a varied field of other sciences. Culture and Open Innovation are, amongst others, suggested to be important factors for enabling change in the eSports industry.