Digitalization of the news market has profoundly affected the news photo sector, leading to economic challenges and a shift towards quantity over quality. Then, the rise of digital journalism, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has further strained the media market. Photo prices have plummeted, driving professional photographers into economic and social hardship. To face this crisis, industry leaders have launched an ambitious innovation project: Pix.T, a blockchain-based solution to trace photos by photojournalists and restore their value. But this project requires a business model innovation to overcome the limits of the traditional photojournalism model, involving a high degree of collaboration and experimentation. Our research explores this particular and little-studied moment of experimentation, focusing on the cognitive aspects largely ignored by the literature. It addresses the question of how to organize the experimentation process in a collaborative and cognitive construction of business model innovation. Primary data, including interviews and a two-year action research, were collected, supplemented by essential secondary data. Three key findings emerged: the experimentation of a business model innovation involves two interlinked stages, individual actors face cognitive barriers during experimentation, and openness facilitates the process through shared spaces or common practices.
