How can innovation in services respond to the twin transformation of digitalization and sustainability? In a newly published article, Prof. Dr. Martin Gersch, Co-Chair of the ECDF Board of Directors and professor at Freie Universität Berlin, contributes to an interdisciplinary effort introducing a novel framework for future research: Continuous Value Shaping (CVS).
A variety of disciplines are developing new approaches to drive service innovation, however, this is primarily done in isolation and generates only fragmented solutions. Theory from social sciences and humanities has proposed “boundary objects” as an effective umbrella for communication and cooperation among communities in order to generate value. Emerging from the fragmentation of disciplinary innovation approaches, CVS is proposed as a boundary concept—a shared language and structure that enables collaboration across fields such as service management, information systems research, marketing, sociology of work, entrepreneurship, and innovation management. The concept of CVS allows for diverse perspectives to converge on shaping effective, inclusive, and future-proof service innovation.
CVS is structured along two main dimensions:
Value Dimension:
1. Value-extending: Innovation should aim at broader societal goals (e.g. sustainability, well-being, resilience).
2. Institutionalizing: It must embed itself in evolving institutional structures such as norms, standards, or governance.
Continuity Dimension:
3. Interacting: Innovations develop dynamically through real-world use and iteration.
4. Experimenting: Data-driven, field-based experimentation supports continuous learning
Integrative Principle:
5. Shaping: Innovation is not a one-off activity but a process of repeated intervention and co-creation in open ecosystems.
An example drawn from sustainable mobility illustrates how CVS can be applied: combining traditional public transport with bike, scooter, or car sharing services requires not only technical integration but also user behavior change, institutional adaptation, and iterative experimentation.
The authors envision CVS as more than a theoretical model. It is meant to guide both researchers and practitioners in addressing new challenges of service innovation in times of digital disruption, ecological transition, and societal transformation. “CVS encourages us to move away from linear models and embrace innovation as a continuous, value-oriented process,” says Prof. Gersch. “It’s about learning, experimenting, and shaping conditions collaboratively—in and across organizations; as we practice it at the @Einstein Center Digital Future.”
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The full article, “Continuous Value Shaping: A Boundary Concept for Innovating Service Innovation Approaches”, is available open source: //Paper
The paper is the result of an extensive collaboration between leading scholars across disciplines and institutions. In addition to Martin Gersch, the following researchers contributed to the development of the CVS framework: Tilo Böhmann, Angela Roth, Gerhard Satzger, Carina Benz, Daniel Beverungen, Andreas Boes, Christoph Breidbach, Gerhard Gudergan, Jens Hogreve, Christian Kurtz, Barbara Langes, Jan Marco Leimeister, Tom Lewandowski, Thomas Meiren, Rainer Nägele, Stefanie Paluch, Christoph Peters, Jens Poeppelbuss, Susanne Robra-Bissantz, Carsten Schultz, Jan H. Schumann, Jochen Wirtz, and Nancy V. Wünderlich.