Hi Don - thanks for taking the time to talk with us.  Can you tell me a bit about your organization?

Sure - happy to be here.  Enterprise Works/VITA is a recognized leader in the transfer of skills and technology through the private sector that offer solutions to low income populations, farmers, entrepreneurs and manufacturers in developing economies. Over the past 35 years EWV has demonstrated that poor households will invest in improving their living conditions if they are offered appropriate products at a price they can afford and that also provide economic benefits.  We are seeking to replicate with rainwater harvesting what we have done with improved cook stoves, manually drilled wells, water filters, treadle pumps and other products, and that is to provide consumers with an affordable solution to a problem facing millions of households.

What are the specific challenges that this solution is expected to address?

The  Challenge seeks to address the over riding constraint that prevents households from benefiting from rainwater harvesting, which is the initial investment in a storage system.  Rain falls just about everywhere and except for the driest places in the world it falls in quantities that are worth harvesting for use, especially when other sources are  unreliable, distant or contaminated.  The quality of rainwater  is generally considered to be good and it is recognized as an improved water source by the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring program for the Millennium Development Goals.  A low cost storage solution has the potential market of millions of clients and can provide benefits to millions of households.

Once the solution is found, how will the new storage systems be produced?

That will depend on the  technology that  is selected and could vary from  mass manufacturing  to local production by small scale entrepreneurs.

Where will this solution be implemented?

Initially the solution will be implemented on a pilot scale in a developing country where there is a significant need for clean water and where the market, environmental, and policy conditions are favorable for large scale uptake of rainwater harvesting by households.  The pilot will demonstrate the  necessary strategies to promote rainwater harvesting and to develop a sustainable supply chain. Based on results from the pilot we will then expand it to other countries.

What appealed to you about the InnoCentive model?

Since we never intended to do this with our own hands, we looked for a company that we felt had the integrity to represent us properly and one that could also deliver a solution to our Challenge.  After discussions with InnoCentive we felt that this was the right fit for us.

Greetings from Marilyn:

I handle the Support line at InnoCentive’s home office here in Waltham, MA. Many questions are received at my desk and hopefully answered in a timely fashion. However, in this article, I would like to pose a few questions for you. If you can answer them you can probably skip to the bottom of this post for the “how can you help?” question.

Specifically, do you know:

- Where you can review all the submissions you’ve sent to InnoCentive?
- Where you can find the evaluations sent by our scientists addressing those submissions?
- How you change your password?
- Where to go to update your picture or bio when you win a Challenge?
- Where to go to update your interests or expertise?

If you continue reading and do a bit of exploring, you should be able to answer all of these questions!

To start, I’d like to provide a quick overview of a great resource that we have for you.  We call it “My InnoCentive” because, as a Solver, each of you have your own page containing all of your unique information and documenting all of your activity on our site.

There are currently 4 sections to this page:

My Challenges

This section contains Challenges we think you’d be most interested in, as well as your open, closed, and awarded Challenges.

The Open Challenges section lists the current Challenges on the MarketPlace for which you have opened a Project Room. A red envelope by the Challenge Number alerts you to any new messages waiting about the Challenge. To re-enter the Project Room, submit solutions, ask questions or retrieve messages, click on the Challenge number.

As the Challenges close and are taken off the InnoCentive MarketPlace, all the information contained in the Project Room is moved to the Closed Challenges tab where it is always available for you to review. All messages and submissions are available for review on any Challenge for which you have opened a Project Room. If you have a winning submission the Challenge will be moved to the Awarded Challenges tab.

My Interests

By clicking on the tab and highlighting My Interests, you can share your Interests and/or Expertise. We encourage you to share this information so we are better able to suggest new Challenges as they are posted to the InnoCentive MarketPlace.
My Account

The My Account tab allows you to update email, password, mailing address, and other contact information. If you are a member of the SAP community you are able to store your User Id on this page. Here is also where you can share a bit more info on yourself and subscribe to email notifications and our Newsletter.

My Public Profile

The My Public Profile is where you enter the data that will be displayed on the Awarded Challenge page when you become an Awarded Solver. You can choose to remain anonymous or complete the different fields found there. Be sure to click the Publicize button by each data field. You can even upload a picture.

In Closing…

ALWAYS remember to Save changes when you alter any of the fields on the My Interests, My Account or My Public Profile tabs. I all too often forget to Save changes and get annoyed until I realize I am the guilty one for not clicking Save! My InnoCentive is where you have access to all your history with us. Please take a look! The easiest and only way to get there is to log in. I bet you are now able to explore and answer all the questions posed at the beginning. You probably can answer a few more questions as well!!

How can you help?

We are in the process of reorganizing some of the information displayed at My InnoCentive. I’d like to hear your thoughts on how to make this resource even more useful to you. If you have ideas to make this area better, please respond in the comments of this post!

I find some irony then that in this technologically advanced and connected world in which we live, there is so little opportunity for individuals to participate in the material advancement of the numerous critical challenges and needs that affect all of us.  Routes to meaningful engagement are often difficult to identify, match, and integrate into our lives. All too often, we are left with financial donations as the only currency for participation. I will argue that in fact creativity and ingenuity are the most valuable assets lacking in the system today, not access to financial means. And for many of us, lending our intellectual means in support of the efforts and challenges about which we care most may be the most fulfilling.

I would like to introduce a new term into our innovation dialogue: the Citizen Innovator. Highly creative and inventive individuals have had monumental impacts throughout history, the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Sir Isaac Newton. Often considered giants in their day, these are the archetypal Citizen Innovators, often the beneficiaries of great patronage, with resources and substantial freedom to roam in creative circles, these individuals have inspired many … they were also few in number.

With the convergence of technology (internet, social networking, communications), increases in standards of living and education, and a more global awareness than at any time in history, I believe there are now legions of Citizen Innovators around the world ready, willing, and able to invest their relevant experience, knowledge, creative talents and hunger for problem solving toward the important challenges of our time. Some will engage simply to make a difference, others for financial gains. But make no mistake, they are changing the way we innovate, from corporate research and product development to improving the human condition and reinventing government.

This emergence of Citizen Innovators represents a shift from the few to the many. They stand ready to tackle problems big and small and are at the heart of an unstoppable movement that is recasting the role of the individual in society. This is an empowerment movement and represents the most democratic of ideas: that we as individuals have a necessary and vital role to play in shaping our world – and in some cases an obligation. We at InnoCentive are proud to be part of this movement and to be working with Citizen Innovators from every corner of the world and from every walk of life.

Go Citizen Innovators!

The InnoCentive Client Services Team - Who We Are

By Gabriel Eichler
InnoCentive Client Services

For many Solvers, the Client Services team is the virtual face of InnoCentive. We are involved in every aspect of the Challenge lifecycle, from working to define the crux of the problem with Seekers, to answering the questions of inquisitive Solvers and then making that exciting introduction between the winning Solver and appreciative Seeker. With such a wide variety of responsibilities, the InnoCentive Client Services team wears several hats, but that comes naturally to us.

We’re an experienced and diverse bunch. We have a combined total of over 17 years of Open Innovation experience and an average 13 years of R&D intensive industry experience. We have advanced degrees in Chemistry, Biology, Computational Sciences, Engineering and Business. The Client Services team has worked all over the world including Russia, Switzerland, France, Israel, Thailand, Japan, Germany, and even Alaska. On top of that, we collectively speak 7 different languages.

Even considering this diversity, we’ve joined InnoCentive because we believe in the promise of Open Innovation. We not only love to provide exciting Challenges for individuals around the globe but we also believe that the opening of innovation will lead to more and better innovation for all. It is precisely because of this passion that we’re launching this new series of blog entries by the InnoCentive Client Services team. We hope that through the next several months, you’ll get to know us better and our individual passions for Open Innovation will shine through. More importantly, we hope that you can benefit from the insights we share. We have after all seen over 700 Challenges on the InnoCentive Website, so we happen to know a thing or two about what it takes to get the most out of our marketplace. We encourage you to leave comments, ask questions and reach out to any of us if you’d like to join the conversation. Enjoy.