The Emergence of Community-Driven Platforms in Response to COVID-19

Volume 64, Issue 5, September-October 2021, Page 31-38

COVID-19 created unprecedented shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), stretching commercial and governmental capacities to respond to frontline healthcare workers’ needs. This article illustrates how GetUsPPE, one of the world’s largest community-driven platforms located in the United States, emerged during the crisis as a response to the PPE shortage and rapidly established an ecosystem that brings together a diverse group of community-based stakeholders to combat the scarcity of medical consumables. We analyze the GetUsPPE case, highlight key lessons, and derive important insights for innovation scholars and practitioners on how to mobilize and leverage diverse actors that come together to provide solutions in emergencies.