Designing Digital Service Innovation Hubs: An Ecosystem Perspective on the Challenges and Requirements of SMEs and the Public Sector

Service ecosystems reshape service innovation by enabling value co-creation among diverse actors. However, small and medium-sized enterprises and public organizations face significant challenges navigating and leveraging these ecosystems due to resource constraints, knowledge gaps, and partnership difficulties. While digital innovation hubs have been introduced as potential intermediaries to foster innovation, existing models primarily focus on individual solutions and networking rather than orchestrating service innovation. This study investigates the design of a digital service innovation hub as an orchestrating entity that facilitates service innovation within ecosystems. Under the design science research paradigm, we analyze the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises and public organizations and derive design requirements for these hubs. Based on 17 expert interviews and focus group validations, we define the problem space and provide a requirements catalog for designing digital service innovation hubs as a step towards providing holistic support for service innovation initiatives.