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Crowdsourcing Effort to Conserve Anti-Slavery Correspondence

Feb-02-18 By IdeaConnection
Massachusetts’s Boston Public Library has launched a fascinating project that is calling on the crowd for help.

The library’s new website features a raft of handwritten letters from the US abolitionist movement spanning 50 years, and it's asking volunteers to transcribe them one line at a time.

The Wisdom of Not Knowing

Jan-27-18 By Wendy
Curiosity, letting go and making uncertainty a friend are among the keys of innovation success. Inviting the unknown is essential for creativity yet too often fear, uncertainty, comfort, stability and familiarity get in the way. In The Wisdom of Not Knowing: Discovering a Life of Wonder by Embracing Uncertainty author, psychotherapist and speaker Estelle Frankel explores the challenges and exciting opportunities of embracing the unknown. She draws on scientific studies, religion, Jewish mysticism and her experience in private practice to produce a compelling guide on how to tap into the wisdom of not knowing. In this interview, Estelle talks about her own experience with the unknown and how it can spur creativity.

The Value of Team Diversity

Jan-26-18 By Wendy
Question: what is the not-so-secret sauce that makes companies more innovative, creative and profitable? The answer is diversity, having a mix of genders, ages, races, cultural perspectives, expertise and ethnic backgrounds. Diversity should not be seen as a box-ticking exercise, as something to comply with because it is the right thing to do and looks good in the marketing photos. It is a valuable business asset that can accomplish short, mid and long-term goals and give companies a competitive edge.

Crowdsourcing Marijuana Prices for the Canadian Government

Jan-26-18 By IdeaConnection
The Canadian government aims to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by the summer of this year. Sales could reach more than $8 billion per annum according to estimates, but this will be determined by what price is set for the product.

To help assess the drug's impact on the economy the government has turned to Statistics Canada and it, in turn, has turned to the crowd.

Multi-Planet System Discovered by Crowdsourcing

Jan-19-18 By IdeaConnection
In a stellar achievement by the crowd, NASA has revealed details of the first multi-planet system to be discovered entirely by crowdsourcing.

K2-138, as it is called, is known to be home to at least five exoplanets. They are orbiting the star K2-138 and it's thought that there could be more undetected planets within the system.

Open Innovation News

Jan-12-18 By IdeaConnection
It has been an exciting few days for open innovation with global companies launching big new open innovation initiatives. Among them are GE Appliances, Hyundai and Nissan.

Here is a quick peek at some of the stories that have been making the headlines.

Open Innovation for the Greater Good

Jan-05-18 By IdeaConnection
In addition to helping businesses solve tough challenges, innovate and bring new products and services to market open innovation is also used to tackle a range of social and conservation issues across the globe.

From time to time we look at this in the open innovation success stories section of our website. Here's a snapshot of a few stories we've covered that highlight the ingenuity and wisdom of the crowd.

Sourcing Novel Timber Building Concepts with Open Innovation

Dec-29-17 By IdeaConnection
To source innovative timber building designs Metsa Wood (part of the paper group Metsäliitto) invited architects, engineers and innovators to take part in the world's first Open Source Wood Hackathon, which took place recently in Nantes, France.

Participants formed three multidisciplinary teams to generate novel wood designs using a type of laminated veneer lumber.

New Open Innovation Platform for European Farmers

Dec-22-17 By IdeaConnection
Farmers in Europe are set to receive open innovation help for implementing climate-smart agriculture policies and practices.

This week saw the launch of Agrisource, Europe's first open innovation platform for climate-smart agriculture (CSA).

Towards Artificial Intelligence-Based Tools for Suicide Prevention

Dec-17-17 By Wendy
Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest new technologies and research into its use is intensifying across multiple industries, including healthcare where it may be able to help prevent suicide.

Every year close to 800,000 people commit suicide which is one person every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization. It is a global problem and has become the second leading cause of death among those aged 15-29 years old. And for every suicide, there could be at least 100 to 200 attempts.