As organizations navigate digital transformation and intensifying competition, platform thinking is emerging as a strategic approach to enhance innovation and resource sharing (Parker et al., 2016; Trabucchi & Buganza, 2022). In a paradigm where organizational boundaries are increasingly blurred and firms continuously search for new sources of innovation (Gawer, 2021), the resource-orchestrating role of platforms (Jacobides et al., 2018) becomes central. This internal view challenges the traditional market interpretation of platforms by framing them as infrastructures that connect employees, functions, and partners, enabling the orchestration of resources and ideas across organizational boundaries.

Among resources shared, a crucial point of attention concerns knowledge sharing, viewed internally as a means to overcome silos and, externally, as a mechanism for transparency and governance within multi-actor systems (Vuori & Okkonen, 2012; Roehrich et al., 2020). Although many organizations rely on digital tools such as Slack or Trello to support alignment, there remains limited clarity beyond the introduction of digital tools, studying platforms as mechanisms for designing long-term collaborative value creation.

The platform thinking perspective invites us to move beyond conventional perspectives, exploring how platforms can function as mechanisms to design, promote, and sustain collaboration among diverse stakeholders. This represents a socio-technical transformation where emerging technologies, such as Generative AI, blockchain, or data mining, intersect with managerial and cultural challenges (Jacobides et al., 2024; Altman & Tushman, 2017). Knowledge sharing becomes a catalyst for systemic collaboration, through internal idea platforms or cross-departmental communities, extending beyond business units and organizational boundaries (Hafeez et al., 2025). Similar mechanisms may also unfold in inter-organizational settings (Springer et al., 2025; Schreieck et al., 2025), such as B2B networks or industrial parks, where platforms can reshape asset sharing and coordination among partners.

Framed within these premises, this track aims to explore: how do established organizations adopt and adapt platform mechanisms to promote collaboration as a means for knowledge sharing and innovation? What kinds of mechanisms emerge when platforms become instruments for systemic collaboration?

We invite empirical and theoretical contributions examining opportunities, practices, and implications of platform adoption within organizations, both as intra- and inter-organizational mechanisms for value creation. This track focuses on unfolding the following sub-topics (but not limited to):

• Mechanisms and practices: How platforms are designed at the organizational level to promote collaboration among employees and overcome silos. This includes business model configuration and governance mechanisms that enable effective platform-based interactions.
• Digital technologies: The role of Generative AI, blockchain, and data analytics in promoting collaboration across networks or geographically distributed organizations. This includes mechanisms and organizational practices that enable and sustain such infrastructures.
• Outcomes and challenges: The implications of platform adoption, both opportunities and barriers created, and the conditions for sustainable value creation.
• Managerial and cultural dimensions: The role of organizational culture and managerial practices in leveraging platforms for collaboration and knowledge sharing.