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Canvas as Tools for Digital Platform Design: Analysis, Comparison and Evolution

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Navigating Unpredictability: Collaborative Networks in Non-linear Worlds (PRO-VE 2024)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 727))

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Abstract

Canvas have for long been embraced as a popular design tool. Initially aimed towards, business model development, the model of a one page, visual and collaborative tool has spread to the design of many different artifacts. Digital platforms, with its conjugation of business, technical, and social facets have benefited from the canvas model for its design practices, from both scholars and practitioners. Nonetheless, the recent push for more industry-specific and holistic digital platform research agenda is bound to have an impact in the tools used for platform design. In this paper, we apply a literature review method to examine existing canvas, inspired by the Business Model Canvas, as tools for the design of digital platforms. Using conceptual platform design research as a frame of reference, we review eight canvas specific for digital platform design, highlighting four critical limitations in their application regarding (1) adopted broad platform conceptualizations; (2) a restricted focus on business elements; (3) a lack of focus on platform evolution; and (4) a lack of guidance in the translation of canvas to explicit platform design propositions and requirements. By addressing these limitations, we set a path for the evolution of canvas as collaborative tools that can better support the more comprehensive and nuanced approaches required for the design of digital platforms acting in an evermore non-linear, volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is supported by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 958448, project CircThread (Building the Digital Thread for Circular Economy Product, Resource & Service Management) and the Ph.D. Grant UI/BD/152565/2022 from the Portuguese funding agency, FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal

    Henrique Diogo Silva & António Lucas Soares

  2. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Henrique Diogo Silva & António Lucas Soares

Authors
  1. Henrique Diogo Silva
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  2. António Lucas Soares
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Henrique Diogo Silva .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NOVA University Lisbon, Monte Caparica, Portugal

    Luis M. Camarinha-Matos

  2. Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Angel Ortiz

  3. Mines Saint-Etienne Univ Clermont, Saint-Etienne, France

    Xavier Boucher

  4. IMT Mines Albi, Albi, France

    Anne-Marie Barthe-Delanoë

Appendices

A Canvas Comparison Table - Part 1

See Table 4.

Table 4. Canvas Comparison - Part 1
Full size table

B Canvas Comparison Table - Part 2

See Table 5.

Table 5. Canvas Comparison - Part 2
Full size table

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Silva, H.D., Soares, A.L. (2024). Canvas as Tools for Digital Platform Design: Analysis, Comparison and Evolution. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Ortiz, A., Boucher, X., Barthe-Delanoë, AM. (eds) Navigating Unpredictability: Collaborative Networks in Non-linear Worlds. PRO-VE 2024. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 727. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71743-7_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71743-7_24

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