Formation of innovation networks, in which partners, customers, and even competitors are included as part of an extended research and development team, was promoted by an Eclipse Foundation official Tuesday at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Redwood City, Calif.

Eclipse's status as an open-source organization means that even competitors must participate, said Donald Smith, Eclipse director of ecosystem development. "In the open-source world, I'm also focused on getting competitors to work together," Smith said. Business process also is part of an innovation network.

Thinking of developer communities as innovation networks will drive positive results, he said. Eclipse's success is in providing the best existing model for multiple organizations to create these networks, said Smith.

"What's interesting about this is the Eclipse ecosystem and the Eclipse Foundation is somewhat accidentally a platform for establishing innovation networks," he said. Eclipse works with different organizations looking to create such a network.

Keys to innovation networks and developer marketing include focusing on business value, having a culture of participation, and executing on platform values.

"Eclipse is a case study of how to build a community," said John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data. Innovation networks are a concept to drive product direction and collaboration, he said. It also takes advantage of the network itself in how products should evolve, said Andrews.

Eclipse, which has 180 members, keys in on business. "The Eclipse Foundation is definitely about technology but we're definitely about the business side," said Smith.

Eclipse was described by Smith as an open-source community focused on developing a platform of runtimes, frameworks, and tools. The organization hones in on development of core infrastructure while participants focus on the value they can add.

"In other words, compete on the products but collaborate on the platform," Smith said.

Creating a platform and having a plug-in API is the wrong approach, he said. What is correct is having plug-ins and a runtime, said Smith. "What you really need is for the platform itself to be as open and extensible as possible," he said.