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For the Crowd’s Eyes Only

Oct-12-12 By IdeaConnection
Bond fans all over the globe are readying themselves for the release of Skyfall and the chance to live vicariously the life of a secret agent for oh, about two hours and twenty five minutes.

But if you have espionage ambitions there is a new crowdsourcing outlet for your inner James Bond.

Coursera’s Collaborative Solution to the Online Education Dilemma

Oct-12-12 By Aubree
Collaborative innovation has revolutionized how ideas are produced. One look at the World Wide Web Consortium, or Wikipedia, or NASA should be enough to demonstrate how the synergy of these organized and non-hierarchical groups can break new boundaries and solve incredibly complex problems. The question is: how can private invention utilize collaboration to its benefit?

Coursera, a new collaborative educational platform, is one contemporary example. Though a private company, Coursera has managed to attract a wide range of public institutions to its purpose. Ostensibly, the company aims to provide high-quality education to anyone who wants it, for free – a modest proposal.

Open Innovation Lessons from a Corporate Giant

Oct-10-12 By IdeaConnection
Forbes magazine carries an illuminating article on the lessons that can be learned from studying the form of Philips, the Dutch multinational electronics company that is the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world.

Philips was founded in 1891 and so it’s hardly a spring chicken. As Forbes points out it had been struggling to prove that ‘its form of conglomerate enterprise’ still has a role to play in today’s markets where consumers are increasingly calling the shots.

But its fortunes are being transformed and it has discovered a renewed zest thanks to open innovation.

Crowdsourcing the Universe…

Oct-07-12 By IdeaConnection
…well, some of it at any rate. Optical physicist and astronomer Olivier Guyon, one of the 2012 MacArthur fellows has announced his intention to crowdsource planet hunting and is planning to devote some of his fellowship funds to that purpose.

Getting the public and amateur astronomers involved in out-of-this world activities has a long and healthy track record. Think, Galaxy Zoo which asks people to identify the shapes of galaxies, and SETIlive.org that lets participants search for possible cosmic neighbors.

But there’s plenty more space out there to be explored.

Air Cargo Company’s Second Open Innovation Contest Takes Flight

Oct-04-12 By IdeaConnection
German cargo airline Lufthansa Cargo was so impressed with the results of its first open innovation contest that it has decided to host another one.

Last year the focus was on innovative concepts for key supply chain processes, now the company is inviting customers and members of the public to submit ideas to improve customer service in the air freight industry.

 

 

Crowdsourcing Happiness to Create Better Living Spaces

Oct-03-12 By IdeaConnection
On the surface, a UK crowdsourcing initiative into happiness may seem a frivolous exercise that raises a wry smile, but actually there could be some real-life enhancing benefits to it.

Urbangems is a website that is asking members of the public to compare photographs of two views from London and to assess which one best represents happiness, beauty and quiet. The data will be used to rate and rank happy places which could feed into urban design and planning.

8 Powerful Ways Innovation Competitions Can Help Your Organisation

Sep-29-12 By IdeaConnection
Innovation competitions are almost as old as the hills; think Harrison’s marine chronometer and Brunnelleschi’s dome atop Florence cathedral.

Although these contests maybe creaking a little around the joints they are still powerful innovation tools that can help organisations come up with game-changing ideas. Here are 8 reasons why:

Car Industry Puts Open Innovation in the Driving Seat

Sep-28-12 By IdeaConnection
Whether it’s to create cutting edge technologies or peer into the future, design concept cars, greener cars, or special editions the automobile industry has enthusiastically embraced open innovation and the crowd.

Here are four examples of car brands turning to external sources of expertise to drive their innovation needs:

Get Ready for the Apps of the Future

Sep-27-12 By IdeaConnection
The Mozilla Ignite open innovation contest has entered a fascinating new phase following the announcement of eight winning ideas for apps for the future.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and hosted by Mozilla, the challenge is an invitation to build apps that are too big for today’s Internet.

The brainstorming round received more than 300 submissions and the eight winning teams were awarded prizes ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Next comes three development rounds where developers from all over the world have the opportunity to turn the concepts into reality.

How the Crowd is Giving Companies a Competitive Edge

Sep-27-12 By IdeaConnection
Tapping into the collective intelligence of the public has gone way past the fad stage and though terms such as crowdsourcing and crowdfunding may sound jargony, they are as many people realize important business solutions.

As if to heavily underline this point in thick black marker pen several Fortune 500 companies including eBay, Google and Twitter will be attending CrowdConf 2012 to discuss and learn about the latest trends in crowdsourcing.