Perspectives on Innovation

InnoCentive was recently mentioned in the Stanford Social Innovation Review article titled Design Thinking for Social Innovation by Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt. This is an interesting read; it talks about the value of “Design Thinking” for nonprofits to help them develop solutions for social problems.

Design Thinking is an approach to designing products and services that takes into account not just needs of the consumers, but also their social and cultural infrastructure. Socially, it can be about addressing the needs of women in third world villages collecting their daily water, or observing the ways in which “very, very poor” families keep their children healthy in areas where children were usually malnourished. It asks that the designer be “open” to seeing the flaws within systems and use their creativity, experience and open-mindedness to fill in the gaps.

InnoCentive is referenced as a good example of how design thinking can result in hundreds of ideas. CEO Dwayne Spradlin defines this “process [as] a prime example of design thinking contributing to social innovation” and cites our partnership with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. If you remember, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development was looking for ways to simplify the current TB treatment regime, and selected a theoretical solution from a Solver who lives in India, Dr. Kana Sureshan. Dr. Sureshan’s mother developed TB when he was 14 years old. Since she was the sole breadwinner in his family, he had to take on the financial responsibility through his high-school and college years. Dr. Sureshan’s drive is palpable, and through his experience and education, he has been able to make a positive impact in the lives of people going through this treatment. As Dwayne says, it is these “projects within the InnoCentive community [that] benefit from such deep and motivating connections.”

Have a read; you will be inspired at how a conceptual approach that is fundamentally “optimistic, constructive, and experiential” can lead to some pretty cool solutions that help to create better lives for people.

Dr. Sureshan, an InnoCentive Solver from India, was one of the winners of the TB Alliance Challenge seeking new methods to cost-effectively manufacture tuberculosis drug candidates.

I am a scientist by profession. My training was in organic chemistry and my present interests are in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, more specifically in cellular signaling. Recently I have joined as a senior scientist in the Institute of Life Sciences, Hyderabad, India. I did my PhD from National Chemical Laboratory Pune, India working in the group of Dr. M. S. Shashidhar. After my PhD, I moved to Japan to work in the group of Prof. Yutaka Watanabe, Ehime University availing JSPS fellowship from Govt. of Japan.  After two years of postdoctoral stay in Japan, I joined Prof. Barry Potter’s group (University of Bath, UK) as a Research Officer. After spending two years in England, I have received Alexander von Humboldt fellowship from the Federal Govt. of Germany and joined the group of Prof. Herbert Waldmann at the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany.  I have published my research accomplishments, till date, in more than 35 international publications.  In recognition of my scientific achievements, my biography has been incorporated in three books by Marquis Whos Who, U.S.A namely, Who is Who in the World, Who is Who in Science and Technology and Who is Who in Asia. Among other academic activities, I am a frequent reviewer of different international journals and I am editorial board member of the journal OPEN GLYCOSCIENCE, a forum for publishing chemical and biological aspects of carbohydrates and related biomolecules. (more…)

Yesterday we announced that a Challenge posted on the InnoCentive Marketplace by the TB Alliance seeking cost-effective methods of manufacturing TB drugs had been solved. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Takushi Kaneko, Ph.D. Project Leader, Research for TB Alliance about the program and the impact of the innovations provided by the InnoCentive Solver.

Hi Dr. Kaneko – congratulations on receiving a solution to your recent Challenge.  Can you tell me a bit about your organization?

Thank you Connie.  Absolutely.  The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) is a not-for-profit, product development partnership (PDP) dedicated to accelerating the discovery and development of new and improved drugs to treat tuberculosis (TB).

We work with public and private partners worldwide and lead the development of the most comprehensive portfolio of TB drug candidates in history.

We seek to develop drugs that will shorten treatment, be effective against susceptible and resistant strains of TB, and be compatible with antiretroviral therapies for those HIV-TB patients currently on such therapies.

Additionally, the TB Alliance mission includes an explicit commitment to what we call “AAA”: Affordability, Adoption and Availability to ensure that new treatments reach the patients who need them, many of those patients being in the developing world.

What problem were you trying to address with your Challenge and how will the solution you selected help?

Today’s TB drug regimen takes too long to administer and requires too many pills. The current treatment course consists of four medicines and is more than 40 years old.  It works for active, drug-susceptible TB – as long as patients complete the six- to nine-month treatment. Many TB patients do not complete this lengthy regimen, and are not cured. Non-compliance has led to the development of deadly, drug-resistant strains. (more…)