Paper Number
ECIS2026-2404
Paper Type
SP
Abstract
Data-driven innovation in Dutch healthcare remains limited as data platforms are largely closed. Even though actors talk about openness, in practice they focus on technical interoperability. Drawing on the concepts of platform openness and boundary resources, we conduct an exploratory case study of the Dutch healthcare platform landscape. We find that ongoing initiatives extensively develop technical boundary resources such as APIs and data standards, while social boundary resources relating to access rules, pricing models and usage conditions hardly receive attention. We theorize that technological groundwork on interoperability poses a `comfort zone’ that hides tensions and conflicting interests that surface when genuine openness is targeted. Our paper contributes to IS platform literature by showing how distinguishing interoperability and openness can help explain why technically compatible ecosystems fail to generate innovation, and how asymmetric development of boundary resources for interoperability constrains generative innovation.
Recommended Citation
van der Doelen, Jasper and de Reuver, Mark, "Platform Interoperability Without Openness: The Comfort Zone That Suffocates Data-Driven Healthcare Innovation?" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 16.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/hit/hit/16
Platform Interoperability Without Openness: The Comfort Zone That Suffocates Data-Driven Healthcare Innovation?
Data-driven innovation in Dutch healthcare remains limited as data platforms are largely closed. Even though actors talk about openness, in practice they focus on technical interoperability. Drawing on the concepts of platform openness and boundary resources, we conduct an exploratory case study of the Dutch healthcare platform landscape. We find that ongoing initiatives extensively develop technical boundary resources such as APIs and data standards, while social boundary resources relating to access rules, pricing models and usage conditions hardly receive attention. We theorize that technological groundwork on interoperability poses a `comfort zone’ that hides tensions and conflicting interests that surface when genuine openness is targeted. Our paper contributes to IS platform literature by showing how distinguishing interoperability and openness can help explain why technically compatible ecosystems fail to generate innovation, and how asymmetric development of boundary resources for interoperability constrains generative innovation.