Innovativeness of open source software projects

The paper addresses an ongoing debate about the innovativeness of open source projects and critically evaluates the innovative potential of 500 most active projects registered by SourceForge.net. The analysis is based on a proposed framework, distinguishing between radical inventions, technology / platform modifications, and marketing innovations. Research findings include relatively low levels of technical newness in the studies sample, alongside high interest of developers and users in the innovative projects. The article discusses the underlying mechanisms, restricting innovativeness of community-driven open source efforts, and postulates the establishment of an institution of idea brokers playing roles corresponding to venture capitalists in the commercial software domain.