Perspectives on Innovation

In your opinion, what is the most pressing water-related problem affecting the developing world?  If a Seeker had resources to devote, and wanted to use them specifically to solve a water-related issue in the developing world, what issue should they tackle? 

Today we posted a Challenge asking just that.  The Seeker is looking for proposals for an upcoming Challenge that will address a problem in the developing world, specifically related to water.  Submissions should address a specific issue, such as delivery of fresh water to remote villages or prevention of contamination of a water supply by mosquitoes with malaria.  The submission should also propose a problem that is solvable with today’s existing resources – a pipeline to Mars would be cool, but won’t win an award. 

Anyone is eligible to submit a solution for this Challenge – no technical expertise is required and the Seeker will pay out at least $8000 in awards.  Unfortunately, this one has a quick turnaround – it’s only posted for 3 weeks.  This is a unique opportunity for you to propose a Challenge that will positively affect those who need it most  - so log in, put on your thinking caps and start changing the world!

The following is cross-posted on Steve Shapiro’s blog, Stephen Shapiro’s 24/7 Innovation.

 I just completed my first month as InnoCentive’s “VP Strategic Consulting & Chief Innovation Evangelist.”  In a short period of time, we made excellent progress on a number of fronts and will be announcing our plans shortly.  My next task is to build my team.

And maybe that includes you!

I am looking for a number of highly skilled innovation experts who want to help me launch this exciting new venture.  In short, I am looking to hire people who are passionate about…

  – delivering innovation consulting to several clients at the same time. Our unique “catalyst” model reduces the amount of time spent with any one client while improving results.

 - participating in sales activities of the company. Although this involves some lead generation (no cold calling), most leads will be generated by a dedicated sales team. The consultant’s primary sales role is focused on proposal development.

 - creating intellectual property and methodologies that will help the consulting team be more effective and ensure consistency of delivery.

If you want to get a sense of my high level innovation philosophy, please read the following articles:

• The 3 levels of innovation & the innovation capability
• How to create a culture of innovation
• An example of innovation in action (pdf)

You can learn much more about the role in the InnoCentive Innovation Consultant Job Description

If you have questions, write me at steve@24-7innovation.com.

I want YOU for innovation!

The results of the International Design Excellence contest have just been announced.  Co-sponsored by BusinessWeek magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the awards are “dedicated to fostering business and public understanding of the importance of industrial design excellence to the quality of life and economy”, according to the IDSA.

There are some very cool ideas represented among the winners – a cheese grater that actually collects the cheese instead of letting it spill over the countertop.  A cookbook that contains tastable pages that let you taste a recipe before making it, and even suggest edits (ok, that one is kind of frightening).  There’s even a bicycle attachment that uses a laser to project a virtual bike lane onto the pavement, giving bikers an instant bike lane when riding congested roads at night.

Some of the ideas are revolutionary, some are just better designs of current products.  Check them out – which are your favorites?

Attention InnoCentive Solvers!

Recommend a person who you think would like to be a Solver.  Someone who could create the next mosquito trap or enhance the next generation of BOGO lights for African villages. Or perhaps someone with creative ideas who loves to brainstorm about interesting concepts.  More Solvers mean more of the world’s Challenges can be solved and that means a bigger impact in the world.

The Solver who sends us the most new Solvers between August 1st and August 31st will not only win a check for $1,000 USD, but will also receive a $1,000 USD Global Giving Gift Card that can be used toward any charity on the Global Giving website.

Click on the button below to start referring Solvers. Get your contest referral link and forward to anyone you think would like to be a Solver. When friends or colleagues click on your link and register with InnoCentive, you’ll automatically get credit for referring them.

At the end of August, we will tally the number of Solvers referred, and the Solver who referred the most new registered Solvers will win the Send a Solver contest. The winner will receive a check for $1,000 and a $1,000 Global Giving Gift Card to donate to a Global Giving charity closest to his or her heart.

Sincerely,

The InnoCentive Team
www.innocentive.com

Please note the Send A Solver Contest (the “Contest”) is open to all registered Solvers (as defined in the InnoCentive Terms of Use ) who are legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, age 18 years or older as of August 1, 2009. Void in Puerto Rico, Guam, The U.S. Virgin Islands, the Province of Quebec, and wherever taxed, prohibited or restricted by law. Employees (and their immediate families and household members) of InnoCentive, Inc. (the “Sponsor”) and its and their parents, subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, participating vendors, distributors, advertising and promotion agencies and affiliated entities (collectively, the “Contest Entities”) are not eligible to win. By entering the Contest, entrants agree to accept and be bound by all terms of these Official Rules and Regulations (”Official Rules”).

Can you identify the picture to the left?  If not, can you at least draw a circle around the round image in the lower half of the frame?  If so, you can become a NASA “Clickworker” and help map the surface of Mars. 

Here’s how it works – volunteers are given a small photo of the surface of the planet Mars, and asked to click the perimeter of visible craters.  The user then submits the information – translated by the system into latitude, longitude, and diameter numbers – to the NASA database. A training example with 7 known craters gives accuracy feedback as each crater is marked.  Upon request, it can give hints, or even demonstrate where to click on the next crater.  A second task, estimating the age of the crater, is a bit more complicated, though the user is given examples and detailed instructions about how this is done.  With several clickworkers marking the same craters, NASA is able to gain a consensus comparable to what might be found by a single expert in the field. 

The project is the second phase of an initiative that was launched in 2001, the results of which are now on the agency’s web site and were published in a paper titled “CAN DISTRIBUTED VOLUNTEERS ACCOMPLISH MASSIVE DATA ANALYSIS TASKS?”.  The stated objectives of the project were to determine:

(1) Are people interested in volunteering their free time for routine scientific work?
(2) Does the public have the training and motivation to produce accurate results in a scientifically important
task?

The answer came quickly – within 4 weeks there were over 800 participants and 90,000 crater marking entries.  This was faster even than the original spacecraft had sent back information.  But what about the results?  An analysis of the data, superimposed onto data collected by NASA scientists, showed some extraneous “noise”, but proved consistent with the scientist’s findings.

Not having much experience working with NASA, I was happy to see that the scientists behind the projecct demonstrated a sense of humor appropriate to the occasion, including the following in the original FAQ:

Q. Is this a big NASA project?

A. No, it’s a tiny little NASA project. The web site and database were created and are being maintained by one engineer working part-tme, advised by two scientists who spend even less time on the project. It’s a pilot study sponsored by the NASA Ames Director’s Discretionary Fund. Depending on what we learn from this, it’s possible that more ambitious projects along these lines will be attempted, once we know the idea works.

Give it a try – and the next time someone asks what you’ve been up to, you can say “I’ve been doing a little work for NASA.”