The Business Wisdom of the Crowd
In yesterday’s UK Times Online, Don Tapscott announced a new crowdsourcing initiative aimed at demonstrating the power of the crowd in solving business challenges. Corporations in four major industry sectors will each present a multi-faceted challenge that they will be facing over the next few years. Then they will invite readers, ”The Times’ influential business audience” to collaborate on a strategy to tackle these challenges.
The project starts on March 2nd. Each month, the site will host a video message from the CEO of one of these companies, outlining their challenge. A site will be available for collaboration on the project, and presumably the CEOs and other industry experts will observe the progress. There was no mention of how the best ideas would be compensated – though in this forum, recognition for its own sake could be a compelling motivator.
It’s a great validation of the idea that corporations are going through a massive change in the way they innovate, and the importance of crowdsourcing in that new model. The question is, will people, presumably people with enough business expertise to tackle the complex problems presented by these corporations, expend the time and energy required to solve these problems, simply for the recognition? Would you? It will be very interesting to watch the progress of this initiative, and to see how close the solutions come to the desired outcomes. Stay tuned!
Tags: business challenge, collaboration, crowdsourcing, Don Tapscott
February 25th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hooray for the U.K.!
Hey, U.S.! How about harnessing the power of your greatest resource? The citizens? Time for Congress to reopen the Office of Technology Assessment so Congress will not only have access to sound science policy advise but also a mechanism to reach out and communicate with the public on key matters of science and technology policy. I can imagine an OTA turning to the wisdom of the crowds when determining solutions to policy questions that often end in gridlock. GM Foods, Stem Cells, Green Techs, Voting Techs, etc…
There’s a facebook group discussing this very point now. All are welcome to weigh in. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=39385247687
February 26th, 2009 at 12:53 am
[...] Perspectives on Innovation » Blog Archive » The Business Wisdom of … [...]
February 27th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
[...] You heard it hear, folks! U.S. corporations and government agencies will start turning to the public for similar solutions more and more. A recent article in the UK Times Online announced a “new crowdsourcing initiative aimed at demonstrating the power of the crowd in solving business challenges. Corporations in four major industry sectors will each present a multi-faceted challenge that they will be facing over the next few years. Then they will invite readers, ”The Times’ influential business audience” to collaborate on a strategy to tackle these challenges.” read more [...]
March 13th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
The initiative is excellent, but what’s happening is NOT the wisdom of the crowds. Crowds are never wise. It is the Power of Diversity- therefore it works only if many categories of citizens are involved.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
hey i want to start getting readers to my blog like you! can i pay you a couple bucks to give me a link in your blogroll/links? let me know
April 15th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I read your posts for quite a long time and should tell you that your articles are always valuable to readers.