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Crowdsourcing Our Way to Better Health

Aug-25-14 By IdeaConnection
Frankly, there are far too many complex problems going around that can't be tackled by institutions and organizations on their own.  When it comes to improving our health, fighting diseases and prolonging lifespans, those challenges take on an extra measure of urgency as most of us want to stick around on the planet for as long as possible.

There are hundreds of situations where drug companies, hospitals and healthcare institutes have reached out to expert crowds to help them in their quests.  Here is a small collection of some of the open innovation health-related projects that have been featured on IdeaConenction’s website.

Crowdsourcing Night Sky Images

Aug-18-14 By IdeaConnection
The space agency NASA needs your help to search through more than 1.8 million photos of the Earth taken during dozens of missions, from the Mercury missions of the 1960s to images captured by the International Space Station.

According to NASA, the pictures “could help save energy, contribute to better human health and safety and improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry.”

Crowdsourcing the Fight Against Crime

Aug-11-14 By IdeaConnection
Sherlock Holmes had his phenomenal powers of deduction.  Lieutenant Columbo had a fine nose for the guilty party and the kids from Scooby Doo had intuition and each other.  In addition to their brain power, today’s detectives and policeman and women can call on the crowd to help them fight crime.  Here’s how:

$1 Million Open Innovation Challenge for Shrinking a Box

Aug-04-14 By IdeaConnection
Do you have what it takes to change the future of energy and electricity? If so, The Little Box Challenge maybe just up your street.

A cool $1 million is up for grabs, courtesy of Google for the team that can create a smaller and cheaper power inverter.  An inverter is an electronic device that takes direct current from items such as solar panels and batteries and converts it into alternating current for use in cars, homes and offices for example.

According to Google, shrinking inverters will change the future of energy, enabling “more solar-powered homes, more efficient distributed electrical grids, and could help bring electricity to the most remote parts of the planet.“