IdeaConnection Innovation
BLOG

Citizens Make Their Voices Heard Via Touch Screen Voting Stations

Apr-24-12 By IdeaConnection
Many companies have used the crowdsourcing model to gauge public opinion on a range of issues, everything from the flavour of ice cream, to the name of product lines.

Now residents of Helsinki, Finland are being given the opportunity to voice their opinion on whether the government should allow the Guggenheim Museum to build a new gallery in the city. And they are using a unique voting system.

Crowdsourcing the Ultimate Paradise for Men

Apr-23-12 By IdeaConnection
One of the big big pluses of brands using crowdsourcing initiatives is that they can attract global media attention. Australian beer brand XXXX Gold has certainly done that with an inspired piece of marketing genius. It has bought a 15-acre island on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, called it XXXX Island and is now asking the crowd to help decide what to put on it.

Silly Putty Inspiration to Repair Potholes

Apr-19-12 By IdeaConnection
A group of students from Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University has come up with an ingenious way to fill up potholes, the enemy of car suspension systems the world over. Their solution hails from the gooey child’s toy Silly Putty.

The students devised the idea for a contest organised by French materials company Saint-Gobain. Participants were tasked with creating a novel product from simple materials.

The Case Western Reserve undergraduates took first prize for a batter made of corn starch and water that behaves like liquid when poured into potholes, but becomes solid when a car runs across it.

What Can Open Innovation Do For Our Communities?

Apr-17-12 By IdeaConnection
Open innovation is not just a powerful business practice, it is also fast becoming a tool for democracy that encourages deeper citizen engagement with local, regional and national government bodies. A forthcoming interactive workshop in Vancouver on Crowdsourcing, Citizen Engagement and Open Innovation will help attendees understand best practices and answer many questions about how the crowd can make change happen in our communities.

NASA to Bring Space Down to Earth

Apr-16-12 By IdeaConnection
The American space Agency NASA has a colossal 100 terabyte library of images and data collected from three decades worth of research - the Planetary Data System (PDS) archive.

To make this more accessible to the public it has announced an open call crowdsourcing competition to create some awesome new mobile and web-based apps.

NASA hopes that with this kind of data at everybody’s fingertips remarkable discoveries will be just round the corner. Copernicus didn't even have a telescope as they hadn't been invented in his day, so what could you do with 30 years of NASA research accessible through your iPad or smartphone?

French City Crowdsources Bike Design

Apr-15-12 By IdeaConnection
Get on your bike and ride with open innovation!

In the very near future when residents of Bordeaux, France push their pedal to the metal on the city’s public bike rental system, they’ll be zipping around the streets on a two-wheeler that some of them had a hand in designing.

Last year, city authorities invited citizens to come up with ideas for a novel bike design for its bike-share scheme.  And more than 300 people took part.

Enhance Your Problem Solving Skills by Drinking Beer

Apr-13-12 By IdeaConnection
There are many ways to boost your brain power to help you to think faster, improve your memory and enhance your creativity. Mind mapping, solving logic puzzles, exercise and power naps are a few that spring to mind.

And according to recent scientific research there’s another way to get smarter, and that’s to drink alcohol. A new study has found that men can sharpen their minds with a cool couple of beers inside them. Contrary to popular belief the refreshing libation actually improves cognitive ability.

Can Open Innovation Provide Better Care for Patients?

Apr-12-12 By IdeaConnection
One of the boons of open innovation is that it can be used not only to boost business bottom lines but also for the common good, such as initiatives to eradicate disease and improve health and well being of patients. For example, GE’s Healthymagination Innovation Challenge.

The Janssen Connected Care Challenge is also concerned about our health as it’s on the lookout for “technology-enabled, scalable solutions to improve care for patients as they are discharged from the hospital.”

Recently, the crowdsourcing competition announced that three finalists will receive $50,000 to further develop their ideas.

A Spoonful of Open Innovation for Drug Discovery

Apr-09-12 By IdeaConnection
“Realistically speaking, open innovation is the future of drug development.” That’s the view expressed by Samir Brahmachari, director general, CSIR (the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - India) in an interview with Forbes India on drug discovery and open innovation.

In How Open Source Drug Discovery Is Helping India Develop New Drugs, Seema Singh writes about how an OI approach is helping to develop drugs that pharma companies don’t find attractive.

Heineken Rolls Out Open Innovation Challenge

Apr-08-12 By IdeaConnection
Calling all innovators and problem solvers!  Dutch brewing group Heineken has launched an open innovation competition asking the public to come up with new ideas for sustainable beer packaging.

Ideas are requested for the 1) re-use or recycling of packaged materials 2) discovery of new packaging materials and 3) creation of sustainable ways to improve packaging in relation to transport. The winner of the best entry will be handed a check for $10,000.