IdeaConnection Innovation
BLOG

More Spaceflight Innovation X-Prizes Will Be Coming

May-20-13 By IdeaConnection
The organisation that funds big money innovation prizes will be issuing more spaceflight innovation competitions in the future.  That’s according to Gregg Maryniak, the corporate secretary of the non-profit X Prize Foundation in a feature on Space.com.

No dates have been attached to future competitions and details are not yet at a stage where they can be discussed.  But they will be coming said Maryniak at Maker Faire Bay Area, a two-day festival celebrating DIY science, engineering and technology.

Caution is Hurting Companies: Leverage Open Innovation for the Next Big Thing

May-18-13 By IdeaConnection
A new survey has found that companies are finding it extremely difficult to produce disruptive products, services and business models.  Instead they are following a potentially perilous strategy of low-risk innovation.

An Accenture survey (Why “Low Risk” Innovation is Costly) of more than 500 executives from large US, UK, and French organizations revealed that instead of offering big, bold ideas, companies are relying on modest line extensions.

How Open Innovation is Changing Business: A Primer

May-15-13 By IdeaConnection
Here’s a neat primer on open innovation and co-creation for you. If you haven’t already seen this video by innovation company Hyve give it a view as it’s an excellent introduction to how open innovation and co-creation are changing business.

It was created in 2011 and since then OI has increased its reach and penetrated the business world more deeply.  Some of the key facts outlined in the video are:

Canadian Government’s Open Innovation Cash Boost

May-14-13 By IdeaConnection
It seems that everyday there’s news of some major open innovation success or project being given the green light. Today is no different.

NanoQuébec, a not-for-profit organization that supports nanotechnology innovation is to receive a large cash injection from the Canadian government to help it implement an important open innovation project.

Hershey is Sweet on Open Innovation

May-12-13 By IdeaConnection
Here’s another sign of corporate America taking open innovation seriously.  The Hershey Company, the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America recently hosted its first open innovation conference.

The huge Pennsylvania-headquartered corporation is engaging with open innovation as part of its strategy to drive global growth.

How You Can Participate in Microbial Space Research

May-10-13 By IdeaConnection
Volunteers are needed to sign up to Project MERCCURI, an investigation of how microbes found in buildings on Earth compare to microscopic life forms on board the largest and most complex structure ever built in space – the International Space Station.

MERCCURI stands for Microbial Ecology Research Combining Citizen and University Researchers on ISS, and the project provides volunteers with kits to collect microbes from the surfaces of buildings.

Calling Basement Inventors: Your Country Needs You

May-07-13 By IdeaConnection
The Canadian federal government wants to tap into the expertise, creativity, and smarts of home-based inventors and turn their ideas into innovative consumer products.

That's according to a fascinating article in the Star Phoenix newspaper.

Open Innovation Conference to Look at Job Creation Solutions

May-05-13 By IdeaConnection
Here’s something that many countries are crying out for: jobs for its workforce. As the effects of the global financial crisis bite ever deeper unemployment figures are going in the wrong direction.

For example, Spain recently recorded its highest unemployment levels for more than a generation with 27% of the workforce unemployed.

So the Open Innovation 2.0 conference being held in Dublin toward the end of May is welcome news.  It will focus on how a new approach to innovation and research can create jobs.

Pharmaceutical Company Increases its Investment in Open Innovation

May-03-13 By IdeaConnection
GlaxoSmithKline plc has announced that it’s going to give the Wellcome Trust in the UK up to £5 million (approx. USD $7.7 million) to support its open innovation approach to the discovery of new treatments for diseases in the developing world.

Crowd Contributions to Frontline Scientific Work

Apr-30-13 By IdeaConnection
All over the world hundreds of thousands of volunteers are helping to push the boundaries of science via their home computers.

From mapping the largest objects in the Universe to studying the smallest living things inside our bodies the crowd is getting involved in a a large number of experiments.

Here is a list of some of the citizen science projects that have caught our attention: