Software Architecture for a Cyber-Physical Ecosystem in support of Open Innovation - : Balancing Open Innovation and Governance through Software Architecture

Abstract: This is a qualitative exploratory study of Software Architecture in Cyber-Physical Ecosystems. Software Architecture plays a pivotal role to Software Ecosystems and, apart from Functional and non-Functional requirements, it is affected by factors of a different nature. The purpose of this paper is to identify these factors and describe their relationship with the ecosystem’s architecture. Several owners of Cyber-Physical systems are in the process of setting up new ecosystems by sharing functionalities of their proprietary platform with third-party developers. This makes Architecture that supports Open Innovation critical to this endeavor. We believe that the application of Software Ecosystem best practices  to the domain of Cyber-Physical Systems is an interesting subject. An exploratory literature study was conducted to create a conceptual model which describes the relationship of architecture with the factors presented above. This study resulted in a conceptual model which supports the decision making process of the platform owner during the various stages of the ecosystem’s lifecycle.