Perspectives on Innovation

We recently announced that the Challenge posted by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce to increase public transportation ridership had been solved.  I asked Lance Pressl, President of the Chamber, to give us a bit more information about the background of the Challenge, and the impact that he expects to see from its solution.

Hi Lance – thanks for speaking with us today.  Can you tell us why the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce decided to host this Challenge?

The Chicagoland Chamber has a long tradition of promoting public transportation in the region.  We believe that a robust transit system, moving people to and from their place of employment efficiently, safely, conveniently and in a manner that reduces the region’s carbon footprint is critical to the future success of the region in a very competitive, global marketplace.  Our members and their employees represent a significant portion of the customer base of Chicagoland’s public transit agencies.  As a key stakeholder, we decided to take the lead in posting the Challenge to demonstrate our commitment to collaboration and showcase the power of crowdsourcing on a real issue that affects all of the businesses and residents of the region

What appealed to you about posting your Challenge on the InnoCentive marketplace?

Posting a Challenge on InnoCentive offered a unique opportunity to tap into the unlimited resources and brainpower of over 170,000 minds from around the world on an issue of great significance to our members.  Gaining access to this pool of “Solvers” was a very exciting opportunity for the Chamber.  In addition, posting the Challenge on InnoCentive also afforded the Chamber the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to solving the most perplexing problems through open innovation and collaboration.  Through our InnovateNow initiative (see www.innovatenow.us), we actively encourage organizations to use collaborative platforms and tools to meet their strategic objectives.  Posting the challenge on InnoCentive allowed us to showcase the value of crowdsourcing and demonstrate the importance of collaboration.

I understand that you received many solutions from around the world – was there anything that surprised you in the submissions you received?

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Aaron M. Renn, a Solver from Chicago and Indianapolis, recently won the InnoCentive Challenge “Ideas for Increasing Public Transportation Use to Reduce Greenhouse Gases in Chicago”.

I grew up in a small town in rural Indiana. While I love the country, after graduating from Indiana University with a business degree, work carried me off to Chicago where I fell in love with city living. Professionally, I’ve worked mostly in the technology space, but I also developed an interest in urban affairs, including transportation, economic development, branding, the arts, and architecture and design. A couple of years ago I started writing my blog on these issues, The Urbanophile, though I have long been a writer on the subject. I published a very early internet blog about transit in Chicago in the 1990’s.

I was unfamiliar with InnoCentive prior to this Challenge. One of the people who reads my blog actually emailed me information about the Challenge, saying it looked like something I would be interested in. Indeed, I was, and felt I had a lot to contribute to the cause of boosting transit ridership in Chicago. I love Chicago, and my motivation for responding to the Challenge was to help make it an even greater city than it already is.

Find out more about Aaron on his blog The Urbanophile.