Now located in Massachusetts, USA.
In 2007 InnoCentive gains a USD 1000 000 award from a non-profit foundation “Prize 4 life” for a favor of an important biology solution.
The InnoCentive web site provides a market place for “seekers” to make an appeal for help:
http://www.innocentive.com/seekers-innovation-management.php
And invites “solvers” to suggest their solutions:
http://www.innocentive.com/solvers-contract-research.php
The problems are split into several categories as:
Chemistry
Life sciences
Math and computer science
Business and Entrepreneurship
Etc
The best solution is rewarded by a seeker-company, in the range of USD 10 000 – 100 000.
The site establishes good intellectual property protection for both sides, and Seekers and Solvers through confidential registration and agreement submitting, and manages the whole process of intellectual property transfers.
InnoCentive provides as well a consultancy services to help companies formulate in the best way the task or problem to propose it to Solvers community. They can also advice on appropriate award range, and as a moderator, can reject the low estimated award or to screen the suggestions and make the selection of Solvers interesting ideas.
The idea of organizing the competition for best problem solutions is not new, it was applied offline since a long time, a lot of companies organize awarded competitions for resolving some particular problems.
But only nowadays, with cheap global communication and developed e-platforms, it became a real power. The world wide database, as InnoCentive one, enables creation of intellectual community, dispatched in different continents, but with the same prompt data access, so the distance between those who are facing a problem and those who can suggest innovative solutions became shot and easy.
The greatest thing is that everyone can try to suggest the innovation, never mind professional background, social status, and nationality.
The questions raised are if the intellectual property rights are always respected from both sides (especially if a seeker and a solver have a very long distance between, it is difficult to survey…). For a solver it is always challenging to start to work on project if it takes a lot of efforts, time and may be investments and he is not sure to be accepted and rewarded, but every competition is always like that…
For a seeker the screening of different ideas and suggestions is always an excellent sources of further development in addition to the best chosen solution.
According to Karim Lakhani, a Harvard Business school professor, who made the observation of InnoCentive site about 240 participants examine each problem, about 20 % of problems are solved.
A surprising phenomena: the solution are very often given by people not experts in the problems field. So we can say that an external outlook can provide an excellent breakthrough, out of traditional way of researching in a certain field.
We can say that InnoCentive is a very powerful engine to stimulate people for innovative solutions and provide an excellent communication tool between institutions and researchers never mind their geographical location and basic qualification.
Nevertheless, this type of sites could hardly replace R&D departments: some problems are just too complicated or specific, and demand huge preliminary investments.
Some other sites providing the same range of services:
Nine Sigme : http://www.ninesigma.com/
Yet2.com: http://www.yet2.com/app/about/home
YourEncore: http://www.yourencore.com/
As to the further development, InnoCentive could create more partnerships programs with non profit organisations and foundations: to detect the main problem types, to turn them into appropriate request and to create special current or permanent communication and solution tools for them.
InnoCentive could organise the search or make the appeal for specialized scientific and research laboratories, governmental institutions to post some non strategic parts or options of their general investigations for solvers community.
Why not changing the type of problems? It could be interesting to develop a competition platform for creative ideas where for example a government can make an appeal for the best solution of architectural projects, ecologic or traffic solutions that are usually under local companies or authorities’ consideration.
A creative music, literature, theatre of event making concepts could apply for different particular demands.
As to the further development, InnoCentive could create more partnerships programs with non profit organisations and foundations: to detect the main problem types, to turn them into appropriate request and to create special current or permanent communication and solution tools for them.
InnoCentive could organise the search or make the appeal for specialized scientific and research laboratories, governmental institutions to post some non strategic parts or options of their general investigations for solvers community.
Why not changing the type of problems? It could be interesting to develop a competition platform for creative ideas where for example a government can make an appeal for the best solution of architectural projects, ecologic or traffic solutions that are usually under local companies or authorities’ consideration.
A creative music, literature, theatre of event making concepts could apply for different particular demands.
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