Match-making in open innovation

Henry Chesbrough first coined the term “open innovation” in his book Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology (2003).  He described a shift from a traditional closed model of innovation to an open model in which R&D-driven firms look outside their organization to solve internal research and development problems.  By working with external individuals or organizations, a firm can benefit from an increase in the number and diversity of potential solutions that would not have been possible in-house.

Life sciences businesses can now take advantage of this trend after the launch of the latest online marketplace for problems and solutions.

InnoCentive, spun-out from Eli Lilly in 2001, built the first global web community for open innovation.  The idea behind the web-based platform is to crowd-source solutions to challenging research problems.  The Open Innovation Marketplace connects companies and not-for-profit organizations (“Seekers”), with research problems (“Challenges”), to scientists and other experts (“Solvers”).  Monetary awards ranging from $5,000 to $1 million are posted for each challenge, paid out to Solvers if Seekers are satisfied with solutions.  Since 2001, the community has grown to over 175,000 Solvers.  More than 800 Challenges have been posted and more than $4 million awarded to Solvers.

Last week, Nature Publishing Group joined with Innocentive, launching the nature.com Open Innovation Pavilion as a platform for open innovation in the life sciences, physical sciences and clinical medicine.  By reaching out to Nature’s leading scientific community, the Open Innovation Pavilion aims to tap the resources of the world’s best scientists to solve global problems.  Other Innocentive Pavilions include Clean Tech and Renewable Energy, Global Health, and Developing Countries.

Are you a Seeker with a problem or a Solver with a potential solution? Check it out.

Find out more about open innovation:

• Business Week: The Next Wave of Open Innovation
• University of California Berkeley Center for Open Innovation

Related Blogs

 

Life science innovation: Out with the old, in with the new
What do the most successful companies such as Apple, Google and Toyota have in common? They innovate differently. Each has embraced a new innovation model: open innovation. Instead of relying solely

Why MaRS matters (part two)
this is the optional excerpt

Business Model Generation: Osterwalder rethinks the publishing industry
Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Generation has become the must-have handbook for entrepreneurs exploring and refining their business model.

Social Innovation in Open Source Business Resource
The September issue of the Open Source Business Resource is all about social innovation. From models of open source to community and university engagement, social innovation is discussed by contribu

Embracing the open source spirit of the social web
Creation and innovation is happening more quickly these days and it’s due in part to the mainstream emergence of the open source philosophy — and not just in software and web applications

“Open source" science: turning the software model inside out
Open Source What prevents researchers from collaborating – from combining ideas required to generate innovative solutions to intractable scientific or social problems? According to Harvard Busin

Tags: communities, innovation, open source