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In this podcast, Steve Shapiro, InnoCentive's vice president of strategic consulting, talks about how InnoCentive's open innovation model has helped companies solve the most challenging problems.
When the Oil Spill Recovery Institute in Alaska wanted to find out how to pump out the almost solidified oil at the bottom of Prince William Sound from the Exxon Valdez spill, the Institute did not turn to its researchers. Instead they posted a challenge to InnoCentive, an emerging company that specializes in open innovation, also called crowdsourcing. According to The New York Times, the Institute paid John Davis, a chemist from Illinois, more than $20,000 for his idea. Davis, an expert on cement, figured that if making cement vibrate can keep it from hardening, then a similar concept can be adapted to keep the oil in the tanks from freezing.
Founded in 1998 by three scientists working for Eli Lilly, the major pharmaceutical company, InnoCentive, became an independent company in 2005. To date InnoCentive companies, such as Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble, and not-for-profits have posted more than 1000 challenges on InnoCentive. Research areas include everything from business processes to chemistry. Steven Shapiro, InnoCentive's vice president of strategic consulting, says that today's corporations cannot depend on their internal research and development departments to solve their toughest problems. "They need to look at external resources. InnoCentive enables these organizations to tap into a global network of more than 200,000 solvers who enjoy the challenge of competing for a cash reward. Our partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation is helping to solve problems posted by not-for-profits working in poor countries."
In this podcast, Shapiro explains the reasons for using open innovation to solve tough problems, InnoCentive's business model for generating revenue, some of InnoCentive's most successful challenges, the benefits of using InnoCentive, and the challenges this company faces in this economy.
Bio
Steve Shapiro is InnoCentive's vice president of strategic consulting. He founded the 24/7 Innovation Group, a management research and education company focused on helping organizations be more competitive. Before 24/7, Shapiro spent 15 years with Accenture, where he established and led its Global Process Excellence Practice. He delivered innovation training to 20,000 Accenture consultants. His books include 24/7 Innovation, Goal-Free Living, and The Little Book of BIG Innovation Ideas. He earned a B.S. in Engineering from the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University.
Resources
Open Business Model Player InnoCentive Radically Expands Its Markets, Opensource.Association
If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone, The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/22inno.html
Crowdsourcing Innovation: Q&A with Dwayne Spradlin of InnoCentive, Fast Company
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kermit-pattison/fast-talk/millions-eyes-prize-qa-dwayne-spradlin-innocentive
Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive Producer
Content Strategy and Media Production by Tom Parish, Inc.
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