Are you familiar with InnoCentive? Would you like to earn prize money between $5,000 and $1,000,000 US for solving a problem? Read on if you'd like to learn more.
For those in Bangalore this week, you can find out about InnoCentive & SAP at the SAP TechEd Bangalore Clubhouse, where a table with two laptops is set up for you to browse Challenges, sign up as a Solver or to learn more about how to outsource a Challenge.
Complement this hands on experience by attending a live presentation at the Bangalore TechEd Clubhouse Theatre on Friday, November 14th from 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM. "InnoCentive & SAP: Rewarding You for Innovation" will be presented by Sid Rabindran, who is an outstanding speaker.
Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of interesting press around Open Innovation and InnoCentive, including a TV program on NBC Chicago, and an article published in Change This, titled: "Open Innovation: Your On-Ramp to Better Products".
The article chronicles the history of encouraging innovation through prize money and its many successes (among many other things). Here some interesting trivia from the article:
"In 1714, the British government through an Act of Parliament offered the Longitude Prize to anyone who could develop a practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. In total, over £100,000 was given in the form of encouragements and awards. The significant winner was John Harrison, who received £14,315 for his work on chronometers.
Likewise, in 1919, New York City hotel owner Raymond Orteig offered a $25,000 reward to the first allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice-versa. It was a relatively unknown individual, Charles Lindbergh, who won the prize in 1927 in his aircraft Spirit of St. Louis and made history."
I also recommend a video that features the Solver of an InnoCentive Challenge:
"In the challenge presented in the video, OSRI sought a method for separating oil from water on oil recovery barges after the oil and water had frozen to a viscous mass. The individual who solved the solution in October 2007 was awarded $20,000 for his solution that proposed deploying an existing tool common in the concrete industry that used vibration to keep cement in liquid form during mass cement pours."
This YouTube video: "Meeting a Winning Solver" highlights why "The Long Tail" (people outside your company's walls) is often an excellent place to look for an "out-of-the-box" solution.
This made me think back to some of the job interviews from my past, where the hiring manager(s) told me: "You are not the right candidate because you have not done EXACTLY this kind of work before". Well, it seems that it is exactly this kind of attitude that can come back to hurt companies who are unwilling to access "The Long Tail", as they are missing out on innovation.
Feel energized to become a Solver or to outsource a Challenge? Visit the SAP Innovation & Technology Pavilion today to learn more.
