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World Leaders Listen to Speech Composed by the World

Jun-30-12 By IdeaConnection
When environmental activist Severn Cullis-Suzuk took to the stage at the recent Rio+Social conference on creating sustainable solutions for our planet’s future, she delivered a moving and powerful six-minute speech, which was crowdsourced for the event.

The speech was created through the “6-Minute Speech Project”, a platform for global dialogue around the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20.

CrowdFunding Campaign for Inspirational Candies

Jun-29-12 By IdeaConnection
With just ten days left to go until deadline, Tracy Jackson, the founder of  iCelebrateDiversity.com is almost half way to raising her target of $10,000.  That's the amount she needs to manufacture one of her products, Diversity Jellybeans, candies that help stop stereotyping.

The company’s supplier recently went out of business leaving Jackson with a problem. She has to turn away orders because she doesn’t have enough capital to meet the manufacturer’s 10,000 pound minimum for custom jellybeans. So she looked to the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.com to raise the funds.

Unilever to Crowd: Help Us Further Reduce Sodium in Our Products

Jun-28-12 By IdeaConnection
Many food companies continue to work with their suppliers to reduce the amount of salt in their products. Sodium is a major cause of high blood pressure which in turn can lead to heart problems, and the average person’s salt intake in some countries is way off the scales making it a major public health concern.

Unilever has already reduced salt levels by 25% in some of its products and wants to cut them by a further 15-20% without compromising taste. So on the Challenges and Wants section of its open innovation portal the multinational consumer goods company is inviting ideas to help it reduce the amount of sodium in food.

Is Crowdfunding Right for your Business?

Jun-28-12 By IdeaConnection
Finding new sources of capital in any economy can be difficult, but the task is positively Herculean in straightened times. Crowdfunding is an additional option where businesses receive funding from small sums invested by individual crowd members. To help you decide whether crowdfunding is the right path for your business join renowned speaker Michael "Hutch" Hutchison and members of the CommunityLeader executive team for a very special webinar.

 

Cafe Noise Can Make You More Creative

Jun-27-12 By IdeaConnection
For some people it’s the shower or a long lazy soak in the bath, for others a walk in the countryside will do, while still more will swear by a cup of coffee.

We all have our own favorite ways to enhance creativity when the little grey cells seem to flag, but maybe you should add the cafe to your repertoire of brain boosters.

New research led by Ravi Mehta from the University of British Columbia and featured in Atlantic magazine reveals that moderate noise levels in cafes enhance creative cognition.

Avoid the Common Blunders and Make Crowdsourcing Work for your Organisation

Jun-25-12 By IdeaConnection
Ideation contests are all the rage as companies across the globe are working with the crowd to help them develop products and services and solve ideas. But all crowdsourcing initiatives are not created equal and many companies flounder because of a few common errors.

There’s nothing wrong the crowdsourcing concept; it’s poor execution and lack of understanding about this open innovation platform that causes a slew of problems including weak and shallow solutions. If you’re thinking about using crowdsourcing for the first time, these are some of the common blunders to avoid:

Cambridge University and GSK in Open Innovation Alliance

Jun-20-12 By IdeaConnection
In an attempt to speed up the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals, scientists from the University of Cambridge are teaming up with GlaxoSmithKline in an open innovation collaboration initiative.

They will work together at the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, the UK’s first ever open innovation bioscience campus, which is next to the drug maker’s R&D hub.

 

 

How Entrepreneurs Can Leverage Crowdfunding to Grow their Business

Jun-18-12 By IdeaConnection
Although still a new kid on the business funding block crowdfunding is getting itself some serious notice. Last year it raised $1.2 billion globally and that figure is expected to double this year.

The money is allowing great ideas to flourish that might otherwise not have seen the light of day. The eLuminate Pitch CrowdFunding™ Conference to be held on July 30-31, 2012 at the Hilton New York will show entrepreneurs how they can scale their businesses and leverage crowdfunding resources to expand services and products.

Could Open Innovation Rescue the Pharma Pipeline?

Jun-17-12 By IdeaConnection
Patent losses and R&D cutbacks are severely hitting the ability of drug companies to fill their pipelines. They are losing market value, shedding jobs and witnessing a dramatic decline in growth (as measured by sales, stock price appreciation and profit for example).

As a result, cooperation and open innovation will become more widespread in the pharma industry according to a new report by GBI Research - Re-evaluating Pharmaceutical Pipelines - Emerging Markets, Biologics and Orphan Drugs to Shape Future Decision Making.

New Thinking Required for Ocean Current Technologies

Jun-16-12 By IdeaConnection
If you have innovative ideas about generating electricity from ocean currents there's still time to enter the TIA-Eskom Open Innovation Challenge. The submission deadline has been extended until July 15th owing to higher than anticipated response levels. The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and South African state-owned power utility Eskom are inviting ideas from inventors, researchers, entrepreneurs and companies for "proven-concept, commercially viable, ocean-current energy-producing technologies".