Platforms for Innovation and Internationalization

The high-tech global startup has many challenges related to both innovation and internationalization. From a Danish cluster of Welfare Tech firms, eight innovative and international firms were selected and interviewed. Such firms typically have to be agile and operate in virtual networks in almost all parts of their value chains. This article contributes to the understanding of how innovation and internationalization to a great extent are interlinked. The firms have developed a core product or service offering, which the firms often describe as “a platform”. Around the platform, they develop their products and services for new customers and users in new countries. The firms have to sustain a strong focus on the platform while at the same time developing their platform solution for new products, new customers, and new markets. This pivoting makes it possible to use the platform in a new context but is highly demanding for the firms. They need to be extremely agile and fast-moving but at the same time still to have a focus on the core of the firm: the platform.