Perspectives on Innovation

Konstantinos Vougas was at the top of the leader-board for the InnoCentive’s first Prodigy Challenge, The Predictive Data Analysis Challenge. The Prodigy is a Solution Test Tool that provides rapid feedback to Solvers and displays the performance of the top ten performing Solvers found since the Challenge has been posted. We have asked Konstantin to share his experience with working on this new Challenge type in particular and on InnoCentive in general.

Hello Konstantin. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about working on the first Prodigy Challenge. Just so we have a bit of background, can you tell us how learned about InnoCentive and what made you become an InnoCentive Solver?

I am always on the lookout for new opportunities in the field of science and I am attracted to the internet as a means of communication. Therefore, as soon as I discovered InnoCentive from a Google search, I knew that this was for me.  What InnoCentive does is globalize R&D and I think that’s great.

Have you worked on any Challenges prior to the Predictive Data Analysis Challenge? If so, can you tell us about them?

Although I have been checking on the challenges posted on InnoCentive for the past couple of years, the Prodigy Challenge was the very first challenge I decided to undertake and formally submit a solution. I guessed I jumped straight into the middle of the ocean…

What attracted you to the Prodigy Challenge?

Ever since I was a child I had a soft spot for scripting, mathematics and challenging problems. As soon as I read the details of the challenge it instantly fit my criteria. This Challenge had a  huge dataset, with more than a million  features out of which only a few carried the information (or part of it) needed for a good prediction, buried within experimental noise, missed measurements and small number of observations sounded just about right, I just couldn’t say no. (more…)

Today marks the first in a series of blog posts written by the InnoCentive Client Services team.   As the primary interface to both the Seeker and Solver communities, Client Services is in a unique position to understand what it takes to successfully write and solve an InnoCentive Challenge.  We hope that these posts will be useful to you – and as always we welcome your questions, suggestions and feedback!

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.