The business ecosystems, open innovation, platforms and systemic innovation are the concepts that are growing fast; they share the multi-actor context and the alignment on a common comprehension of the business. On the other hand the business model concept has been developing in the recent years mostly having a focal firm perspective so it does not provide lenses or tools adapted to such multi-actor contexts. In this regard, through an action research methodology we developed an ecosystem business model design tool within a public-private innovation project for transportation. The Ecosystem Business Model (EBM) includes mapping, matrix and histogram tools to interpret and simulate cost-revenue structure as one of the aspects of business models. These tools helped to overcome the complexity of collective design for the business model within a multi-actor innovation project and assisted different actors to coordinate and collaborate together to establish a business ecosystem for innovation. This communication calls to open the business model literature to the business ecosystem context.
