Unilever recently opened a new platform to help them grow their business using open innovation. The new Open Innovation portal is designed to find the latest and greatest technologies from around the world. Unilever plans to use submissions to its portal to improve upon existing concepts, as well as discover new ideas and ways of working with innovation partners. The company has expressed its commitment to the Read More
Abandoned Buggies – Help is on the Way!
Recently Singapore’s Municipal Services Office (MSO) unveiled its plans for a new app and web portal in an effort to improve government services. Minister of Culture, Community, and Youth, Ms. Grace Fu, is in charge of the project and believes it will greatly improve municipal services using the power of crowd-sourcing. The goal is for users to provide information and feedback to the MSO using the new platform, which Read More
Uncle Sam Wants YOU
The Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office has advised that it has plans to seek out new and improved innovations from industry professionals in the field of weaponry. The Pentagon’s goal is to put its existing weapons to work in new and useful ways. This is all in an effort to keep one step ahead of other heavy-hitters such as Russia and China. This is the first time the Pentagon has reached out for help in this Read More
Become a Space Archaeologist!
Dr. Sarah H. Parcak, American archeologist and Egyptologist, was recently awarded the 2016 Ted Prize for her pioneering work in “space archeology,” a concept involving the use of satellite imaging, taken from over 400 miles above Earth, to uncover ancient sites which have gone undiscovered for millennia. An important function of space archeology is to expose and monitor looting of historic locations. Part of the Read More
A "Cool" Shipping Idea?
Do you have a “cool” shipping idea? The Hershey Company recently launched a crowd-sourcing campaign on NineSigma to seek out the next big innovation in shipping, specifically, shipping cold chocolate to warm climates. According to the contest website, Hershey is looking to develop “a lightweight, affordable shipping system that will keep chocolate close to the temperature at which it was packed, 75°F or below, for Read More
Lifetime Brands – an Open Innovation Success Story
You might not recognize the name "Lifetime Brands", but you almost certainly will recognize their brands: Farberware, KitchenAid, Mikasa, Cuisinart, and Pfaltzgraff are only a handful of the recognizable names under which Lifetime sells its wares. In fact, you probably have a number of their products in your kitchen. I have been to their headquarters and seen their showroom - it's like a kitchen junkie's dream come Read More
CrowdFlower Completes One-Billionth Crowd Judgment
According to their own press release, CrowdFlower recently announced the completion of the one-billionth "crowd judgment" on its platform. CrowdFlower refers to itself as the "leader in crowd microtasking". What exactly are crowd judgments and crowd microtasking? Using CrowdFlower's platform, a crowd contributor can "judge" a variety of "microtasks". In practice, this takes the form of determining whether a search Read More
Crowdsourcing genetic data
According to Rajaie Batniji's recent article, earlier this month, researchers and advocates from 40 countries formed a global alliance to enable the secure sharing of genomic and clinical data. The potential benefits of sharing this type of data are significant, however concerns are being raised that there also may be serious risks. On the plus side, using an open innovation approach could help scientists unravel Read More
Patents and Open Innovation
Patents and open innovation - friends or foes? IP lawyer and Penn State law professor Clark D. Asay writes that open innovation communities subscribe to the view that "patents stifle rather than promote innovation". Asay believes that "it has become conventional wisdom in open innovation circles that patents threaten their very way of life". On the other hand, a recent article from Intellectual Asset Magazine Read More
What Open Innovation Means and Why We Care
Henry Chesbrough, an author and professor who is widely credited with coining the term “Open Innovation”, believes that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company (e.g. Read More
