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Accelerating Innovation for Development
If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone
July 22, 2008; The New York Times; EXCERPT
By Cornellia Dean
InnoCentive [is] a company that links organizations (seekers) with problems (challenges) to people all over the world (solvers) who win cash prizes for resolving them
Offering prizes for scientific achievements is hardly new. “It has been around for centuries,” said Karim R. Lakhani, a professor at Harvard Business School who has studied InnoCentive...a study of InnoCentive found that'the further the problem was from the solver’s expertise, the more likely they were to solve it,'” often by applying specialized knowledge or instruments developed for another purpose. For example, the brain might be thought of as a biological system, but 'certain brain problems may not be solvable by taking a biological approach. You may want to cast it as an electrical engineering approach. An electrical engineer will come in and say, ‘Oh, here’s the answer for you.’ They have not thought of themselves as being neuroscientists but now they can approach the problem from the point of view of electrical engineering.'
One critical element is encouraging organizations to take novel innovation approaches in the first place. That was the task that drew the Rockefeller Foundation to the company, said Maria Blair, an associate vice president there.
Ms. Blair said the foundation was nearing the end of an 18-month pilot program after which the success of the partnership would be assessed. Anecdotal evidence so far suggests the arrangement can be useful, she said, citing as an example a challenge to devise a reliable, durable solar-powered light source that could function as a flashlight and as general room illumination.
“The solver ended up being a scientist from New Zealand,” she said, and his light is now being made in China.
“What we want to do,” she added, “is connect the nonprofits to the platform, to InnoCentive.”
The nonprofits get a break on InnoCentive fees... and Ms. Blair said the foundation could subsidize access to innovation platforms. But she said many nonprofit organizations had difficulty dealing with intellectual property rights and related issues.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
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