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Million Dollar Zazzle Open Innovation Winner Selected

Mar-23-12 By IdeaConnection
The winner of the Million Dollar Zazzle Open Innovation Challenge has been announced.   Selve, the luxury shoe individualizer managed to beat off competition from about 1,000 entrants and four other finalists to claim the top prize of a million dollars in technology, software, distributing and marketing.

The winner was presented during a ceremony at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.  In the preceding few weeks all five finalists were mentored by a team of professors that included Henry Chesbrough, to refine their concepts and plans for the final evaluation.

Open Innovation Project Revolutionises the Documentary Genre

Mar-14-12 By IdeaConnection
Open source nonprofit organisation Mozilla is breathing new life into the documentary format with its recently launched Living Docs Project, an initiative that encourages collaborative, interactive web films.

Living Docs is a partnership between Mozilla, The Tribeca Film Institute, The Center for Social Media at American University, ITVS and BAVC and will foster the spirit of open innovation and collaboration in the documentary film genre.

The UK Welcomes its First Open Innovation Campus for Drug Discovery and Development

Feb-14-12 By IdeaConnection
Britain’s first ever open innovation bioscience campus has now opened its many doors for business.

Focused on early-stage drug discovery and development, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst will pioneer a unique and collaborative environment for companies of all shapes and sizes, including virtual and start-up firms.

The Crowdsource Be With You

Jan-28-12 By IdeaConnection
A long time ago in a galaxy not too far from here a movie called Star Wars first hit the cinema screens and changed Hollywood forever.

Since those heady days of the late 1970s there have been countless versions, digital updates and special editions of all six Star Wars movies that have kept the franchise alive.

But the Empire has seen nothing like the latest incarnation, a recently released crowdsourced version that has taken the Internet by storm.

How Crowdsourcing Helped People with Wikipedia Withdrawal Symptoms

Jan-27-12 By IdeaConnection
When Wikipedia closed down its sites for 24 hours in protest against US piracy laws, it left millions of people without access to their favourite online encyclopedia.

However, help was at hand as the crowd rushed in to fill the information void. The Washington Post in collaboration with other media organizations including NPR and the UK’s Guardian newspaper provided an imaginative one-day crowdsourcing solution to help those seeking answers to questions.

Using the Crowd to Turn Apps into Reality

Jan-03-12 By IdeaConnection
For some savvy developers applications are becoming the fast way to making a fortune. But if you’re unsure about whether your light bulb moments can be turned into viable and popular apps a new website has come to your aid, as it allows you to use the power of the crowd to improve and then fund your app idea.

Currently still in Beta, SellAnApp is for anyone who has an idea for a new app, and the service promises to provide you will all the resources you need to create your applications.

Building Your Creative Endurance

Dec-19-11 By IdeaConnection
Originality and inspiration may drip from your every pore, but every now and again the creative muscles won’t budge for love nor money. As an innovator, creativity is at heart of everything you do, so how can you rejuvenate your creative powers and keep them in tip top shape?

‘Lateral Action’ has a stimulating article that provides six top tips to restore creative fitness and once that’s done, to build up creative endurance.

Ten of the Best: Inspirational Quotes about Innovation

Dec-15-11 By IdeaConnection
How are you feeling today? Are your creative cogs lightly greased and turning at full capacity or do they appear to be on a break as you stare at a blank piece of paper wondering where your next genius idea is going to come from?

Every now and again we all need extra dollops of inspiration and motivation to get us firing on all cylinders. So here are ten inspirational quotes about creativity and innovation to keep you on track to achieving your goals.

Sci-fi Show Launches Crowdfunding Drive

Dec-13-11 By IdeaConnection
Isn’t it teeth-clenchingly annoying when TV networks cancel your favourite shows just when you get to the point of not being able to live without them? Network bosses are all powerful, more so than your remote,  but could a new crowdfunding initiative could be the start of the something big by putting TV shows into the hands of fans?

The television revolution is not going to happen overnight, but this could be where it starts to gain momentum. Some bright sparks at a new sci-fi web TV series called Immortal U have turned to the crowd for assistance with Episode 1 pre-production costs.

The Caped Crusader Needs You!

Dec-05-11 By IdeaConnection
Holy tapping the crowd initiative, Batman! Top Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, whose career encompasses more than 100 movies is currently working on the score for the forthcoming Batman sequel, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and he’s calling on members of the public to help. The musical maestro is crowdsourcing audio to put in the film to create a worldwide chant from hundreds of thousands of voices.  It’s being organised through Ujam.com and Bat fans can make their vocal contributions via a specially created webpage.

And what’s good for those of us who’ll never trouble the music charts is that it doesn’t matter if you mumble, growl, stutter or scream, are tone deaf and completely out-of-tune.  Zimmer’s request covers all ‘talent’ levels. “There is no such thing as out-of-tune, no timing we can’t fix later. If you mumble, growl, scream or whisper, it’s all good”.