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How the Crowd Can Help End Modern Slavery

Nov-19-12 By IdeaConnection
According to the International Labor Organization there are between 10-30 million slaves worldwide. Modern slavery is a cruel blight on humanity and it takes a number of forms including human trafficking, child soldiers, forced marriage, and forced labor. Crowdsourcing intelligence company Chaordix will soon launch a new initiative to engage human rights activists, students, and scholars on college and university campuses in every country in the global ChallengeSlavery.org contest.

How to Have an Original Thought

Oct-29-12 By IdeaConnection
There are no hard and fast rules about how to generate creative and inspired thoughts, though one of Einstein’s musings is a hot favorite:

“To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition.”

That’s one way, and of course there are many others. If you’re stuck in a rut with a brain on temporary hold refusing to come up with an original thought, here are a few simple ideas to get it fizzing and popping back into action:

A Healthy Dose of Inspiration with Quotes about Ingenuity

Oct-21-12 By IdeaConnection
Get the week (and your brain cells) off to a flying start with these pithy, insightful and revealing quotes about ingenuity.

“The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”
Marcel Proust

Coca-Cola to Put More Fizz into its Innovation Endeavours

Sep-23-12 By IdeaConnection
Coca-Cola has expressed its desire to be a less secretive company by announcing its intention to engage with open innovation endeavours such as crowdsourcing with customers and collaborating with its franchisees.

According to Marketing Week Anthony Newstead, Coca-Cola’s global director of innovation, IT and Interactive revealed that the company, famous for its ‘secret formula’ is to be more open across the business.

Quotes to Help You Deal with Rejection

Aug-27-12 By IdeaConnection
Nothing stings like the pain of rejection. You've invested so much time and energy into your innovation or invention that hearing the word ‘no’ is like a dagger to your heart.

But a refusal is not the end of the journey as many successful innovators have discovered on their way to ultimate success.

Here are a few standout quotes from prominent people to help ease the hurt:

“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat” - Sylvester Stallone, actor, writer, director

Five Factors to Consider Before Co-Creating with Consumers

Aug-19-12 By IdeaConnection
You have an idea, a giant of a brainwave that’s going to take the world by storm and net your company squillions. But you’re still nervous and wonder whether it really will fly with your customers.

So to minimize risk and to see if your idea is really as good as you think it is, you enlist their help as co-creators. After all you've studied the open innovation landscape and seen how companies like Nike, Nivea and Kellogg’s have successfully worked with the crowd and view customers as amongst their biggest assets.

But before you jump in consider the following points to help you shape your co-creation strategy:

Cafe Noise Can Make You More Creative

Jun-27-12 By IdeaConnection
For some people it’s the shower or a long lazy soak in the bath, for others a walk in the countryside will do, while still more will swear by a cup of coffee.

We all have our own favorite ways to enhance creativity when the little grey cells seem to flag, but maybe you should add the cafe to your repertoire of brain boosters.

New research led by Ravi Mehta from the University of British Columbia and featured in Atlantic magazine reveals that moderate noise levels in cafes enhance creative cognition.

Crowd Creativity to Make a Fashion Statement at the 2012 Olympics

Jun-12-12 By IdeaConnection
Yes, you can pay design firms or artists big bucks to come up with a concept for your branding efforts, or you can follow the example of Uruguay’s Ministry of Tourism and Sport and tap the crowd for some ideas.

We all know that fans are passionate about their favorite sports, but can they be creative as well? That’s what the Ministry is hoping as it’s asking for fan-created images for a brand-new Olympic t-shirt.

 

Three Open Innovation Projects for the Common Good

May-24-12 By IdeaConnection
There are numerous open innovation and crowdsourcing projects, competitions and initiatives for the common good. They offer a variety of ways for citizens to serve the greater public interest.

Here are three in particular that have caught IdeaConnection’s eye:

3 Videos about Ideas and Creativity You Should Watch

May-22-12 By IdeaConnection
As an innovator ideas are your lifeblood.  But often, coming up with fresh ideas can feel like getting blood out of a stone. So how do you keep the ideas flowing? How do you come up with that one killer world-beating idea that nobody else has thought of?

Some people wait for inspiration to strike; others constantly work at producing ideas and fresh approaches on a consistent basis. Whichever is your preferred mode here are three top videos about idea generation and creativity to inspire you: