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The Mark of Legitimacy?

Nov-18-10 By Aminda
Crowdsourcing: noun the practice whereby an organization enlists a variety of freelancers, paid or unpaid, to work on a specific task or problem: Kodak used social media crowdsourcing to engage its customers in their naming contest.

While this looks like a legitimate dictionary entry, it's not. At least yet. The word crowdsourcing was among those nominated by the New Oxford American Dictionary for their Word of the Year. Unfortunately, it was beat out by "refudiate," a word invented by Sarah Palin in a misguided twitter post.

Fortunately, the selection of a Word of the Year does not mean the word will be added to Oxford dictionaries - at least any time soon. Rather the choice is based on buzz - the amount of attention the word has received over the previous year and whether its usage has grown. This is quite an accomplishment for "refudiate," a term that didn't even exist until July of this year and probably won't even be remembered this time next year. Case in point, does anyone still use "bovvered," the 2006 Word of the Year?  On the other hand, the word twitter and its many variations, none of which have made WOTY, have all become completely ingrained in our lexicon.

How To Convert Ideas Into Profitable Innovations: Three Corporate Idea-Improvement Programs

Nov-14-10 By Edward Glassman
Idea-improvement needs special effort in most companies. People with ideas may not have the business sense to see its potential or limitations, or the idea may lack data and clarity so no one sees its value when presented to management. An ‘Idea-Enhancement Innovation Program’ minimizes these problems by providing idea-people with the means to develop and evaluate their own idea before presentation to management, and by enabling management to make informed decisions about the idea.

I interviewed the head of ‘idea-improvement innovation programs’ in three Fortune-500 corporations to discover why they were successful. They remain anonymous.

These innovation programs solicit ideas, enhance them, and then persuade management to support the idea with resources. Such innovation support systems help idea-people to become involved in the identification and early development of ideas for new business opportunities through new technology, new products, and new processes.

In other words, these idea-enhancing programs enable people to dress up their idea before review by senior management who provide the resources for further development.

IBM Eclipse

Sep-17-10 By Amrat
In a world of knowledge spillovers, open innovation asserts that knowledge that is external to a company and therefore can be profitably exploited if matched to the firm's core competencies. The basic idea is that the boundaries between a firm and its environment have become more permeable, so innovations can transfer inward and outward. In a similar manner, unused or under-exploited internal knowledge can create revenues if properly disseminated to third parties, i.e., through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs, etc.  IBM used this concept of Open Innovation perfectly to create the Eclipse platform, where competing companies are invited to co-operate inside an open innovation network.



The eclipse community has established a model for multiple corporations to create innovation networks. The open innovation paradigm treats R&D as open system. IBM is reinventing the way it innovates. The decision to invite outsiders and open up the innovation process reflects one of the most intriguing concepts in the corporate strategy today. IBM has built what it calls an “open ecosystem” of chip R&D with many partners like advance micro devices Sony, Toshiba and Albany nanotech etc.

Open Innovation is not a Threat to Consultants

Mar-27-10 By Scott Wurtele
At first look, it appears that Innovation Intermediaries, with their access to tens of thousands of brilliant experts, would scare consultants.

Strength in Numbers

Feb-22-10 By Kristeen
With his Master's Degree in Biochemistry, Joseph Hawumba returned to Makerere University where he teaches biochemistry to science, medical, and veterinary students. He also carries out frontline scientific research and writes academic papers. Hawumba became a Problem Solver on IdeaConnection and was recently interviewed on his success.

3RD World Wheelchair

Feb-18-10 By Kristeen
Amos Winter, a MIT graduate student, has developed an innovative mobility aid specifically for developing countries. Conventional wheelchairs are nearly impossible to propel on the sandy roads and muddy walking paths frequently encountered in the developing world. The Leveraged Freedom Chair (LFC) uses an innovative approach to solve this problem by assembling this wheelchair from available bicycle parts.

Wally Hermes Megayacht

Feb-15-10 By Kristeen
A joint venture between French high fashion house Hermes and Wally Yachts formed to create Wally Hermes Yachts (WHY). Their first motor yacht redefines luxury living at sea; the 58 x 38 meters, multi-story floating personal holiday resort features almost an acre of floor space and an ultra-stable Norwegian Ramform hull. Its diesel-electric propulsion is the most efficient motorization to date and was conceived to reduce energy consumption up to 200 tons of diesel per year. Photovoltaic panels cover almost 900 square meters and generate enough energy to supplement most of the boat’s auxiliary system needs. It can cruise at 12 knots in a Force 4 gale and has enough range to cross the Atlantic four times without refueling.

Lead to Innovation

Feb-10-10 By Kristeen
This new concept design takes the lead from old pencils and uses it as ink for your printer. With the Pencil Printer pencil stubs can be re-used and made into ink to be used to print documents. It works by separating the wood and lead inside the printer. You simply put a pencil into the hole on the top right of the printer, start the machine, and then you’ll see the device printing on paper using the pencil powder. Designer Hoyoung Lee also adopts eraser to erase off the printed paper so that you could use the paper again. WOW!

Perfect Portable Printer

Feb-08-10 By Kristeen
Print your documents anywhere and anytime with Stick POP, a new concept portable printer designed by Jihun Kang, Youngho Lee, Jieun Lee and Changsu Lee. Measuring only 9 inches by 2 inches, this portable printer fits well in your bag and is battery operated to eliminate the need for an external electrical source. Just hook it up to your computer device via USB and start printing. The front panel features a monochrome OLED display to show the current printing status and document name.

Flex and Fold Water Bottle

Feb-05-10 By Kristeen
Vapur is a new and innovative flexible water bottle designed to fit in your pocket, purse or briefcase. The completely collapsible bottle is unique and innovative because it can be rolled, folded or flattened and tucked away, making it the most portable refillable water bottle on the planet.