Perspectives on Innovation

I recently interviewed Scott Pegau, Director of the Oil Spill Recover Institute (OSRI) in Cordova Alaska. OSRI was created by the government in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and has been tasked with improving oil spill response in Arctic and subarctic marine waters. As you may know, OSRI has posted several Challenges on the InnoCentive website, including the Challenge, recently made famous by the New York Times, to separate oil from water in recovery barges. That Challenge was solved by John Davis, an oil-industry outsider. We find that many of the best solutions on our network come from outside the industry in which they are posted.

Liz Moise:
Scott, tell me – how long had you been working on this particular Challenge before coming to InnoCentive, and what other avenues did you pursue before coming to us for help with this problem?

Scott Pegau:
Actually, the process of setting up a prize program predates my arrival at OSRI.  The idea had been kicked around for a couple years, but hadn’t fully developed because of the need to ensure the program was properly run and advertised.  Once InnoCentive was identified as a mechanism to post and manage challenges we started to actually draft the concepts that have become the challenges we have released.

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If you haven’t seen this article yet, go check it out - Prize Power: How Competition Inspires Tech Innovation. This is a fantastic piece on how the work of Solvers leads to world-changing innovation. This one is for you, Solvers!

The New York Times today published a great piece on InnoCentive, featuring our own John Davis, among others. If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone. This is a great sign that Open Innovation is really starting to catch on with the mainstream audience. What a great testament to the brilliance of our Solver network.

My name is John Davis and I studied chemistry at Illinois State University under Dr. Cheryl D. Stevenson and at Notre Dame under Dr. Bradley D. Smith. Currently, I work as a consultant for petrochemical and general manufacturing facilities, but like most people, I have worked a number of different jobs.

One summer I gained some experience pouring concrete, and I used some of what I learned from that experience to help solve the InnoCentive Challenge “Breaking Viscous Shear of Crude Oil”. Concrete vibrators are used to allow the concrete to easily flow into fine cracks and crevices, and also are used to restore liquid flow to concrete that has begun to set-up prematurely. I realized that with some minor modifications, pneumatic concrete vibrators could solve the problem of Breaking the Viscous Shear of Crude Oil by restoring liquid flow to the icy slush mixture.

I plan to take a vacation and visit OSRI in Cordova Alaska when it gets warmer. It means a lot to me to know that my Innocentive Solution was used by OSRI because their work is so important. It is very exciting to know that my idea is helping their cause. I intend to make a donation to OSRI with some of the award money so that they can find the most environmentally friendly means to clean up oil spills.

For more details on my story, click here to watch my video on YouTube.