Abstract:

Labs have become a central organisational form for transformative innovation, yet their internal functioning is poorly understood. Extant work documents structural typologies and outcome contributions, but the communicative micro-processes that allow heterogeneous actors to act jointly under divergent expectations remain under-theorised and under-empiricised. This paper develops a communication-theoretical account of how labs become and remain actionable. Drawing on Luhmann’s modern systems theory, Chesbrough’s open innovation framework and the boundary spanning literature, we analyse sixteen semi-structured expert interviews with science, citizen and business stakeholders from five labs in Germany (1,396 codings; MAXQDAsupported qualitative content analysis combined with code-relations analysis). Six deductive plus one inductive dimension structure the data. The central contribution is the Lab Membrane Model (LMM), which reconceptualises the lab boundary as a selectively permeable communicative space realising three operative functions (filter, translator and amplifier) sustained by an inner architecture of four condensations and a personal deep layer. The LMM extends Luhmann’s systems theory empirically, sharpens the coupled process of open innovation, and yields the LabKompass diagnostic suite as practical operationalisation.