InnoCentive Innovation Blog

In 2017, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined five other federal agencies on a mission to improve air sensor monitoring technologies that measure pollutants contained within the smoke that fills the sky during wildfires. The EPA worked again with InnoCentive to design a challenge that would be presented to our diverse network of over 400,000 global Solvers.  

The benefits historically of having the best and brightest minds working at your company or organization are self-evident. When you recruit and keep the top talent in your industry, you stand the best chance of not only beating your competition, but you may also be able to outlast them. The same can be said about R&D departments: those who leverage the brightest minds in any field will innovate faster, more efficiently and with far less investment.

Agreeableness is one of the Big Five Personality Traits that are occasionally referred to as the Dimensions of Personality. It’s also quite a controversial trait for many in the business world. While it’s generally accepted that agreeable people – those who are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate – are pleasant to be around, clinical phycologists maintain the personality trait, while great for social interactions, is not always the best for business, particularly for managers and those who hold other leadership positions.

When people think of NASA, they think of innovation, creativity and pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible. It’s the organization that put a man on the moon, is actively pursuing a mission to Mars, and, through various R&D contracts, helped develop a variety of consumer technology that includes temper foam, LASIK, scratch-resistant lenses and invisible braces.

One of InnoCentive’s most recent challenges has successfully come to an end with resounding success. Seven awards were given out by the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3) to solvers from our global network.  The GC3 is made up of members that include 11 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, two major retailers and five suppliers: