News & Events

The App Pack: Urban Mechanics Connect Residents with Government

DATE: 05/10/2013

TAGS: Best Practice, Government

Two Boston city employees are using technology to revolutionize the way local governments interact with residents. And they’re doing it from—of all places—inside Mayor Menino’s City Hall. InnoCentive was the primary Challenge partner for the City of Boston's "Street Bump" Challenge.

EIT Innovation Competition Launches for Rail

DATE: 03/21/2013

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

Article on the UK's Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) Enabling Innovation Team (EIT) and its £1m competition to identify opportunities for innovation in service culture, business process, journey planning, the whole journey experience, and design of facilities. InnoCentive's Director Jonathan Slater is interviewed.

Open Innovation Challenge Aims to End Mass Atrocities

DATE: 03/13/2013

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Not for Profit

Insightful article by Crowdsourcing.org which dives into the USAID and Humanity United Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention, a technology competition featuring five distinct Challenges (of which three are being run on InnoCentive) which seek to enlist Solvers from around the world in support of the White House’s effort to design new tools to help prevent and respond to mass atrocities.

USAID and Humanity United Announce Round 2 of Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention

DATE: 03/06/2013

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Not for Profit

Three new Innovation Challenges which encourage individuals, groups, and organizations to apply technology-based solutions to the most significant issues surrounding atrocity prevention.

How Crowdsourcing Could Save the Department of Energy

DATE: 02/27/2013

TAGS: Best Practice, Government, Open Innovation

This article by Stephen Lacey of Greentech Media asks the question, "Are DOE’s most effective problem-solvers outside the department itself?" Jon Fredrickson, VP of Government Programs at InnoCentive, is interviewed in this article.

Boston Gets Big Data

DATE: 02/14/2013

TAGS: Government, Making the Business Case

This article dives into the real world application of the City of Boston's Street Bump Challenge which was hosted by InnoCentive. The article is excerpted from Phil Simon's "Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data," a book that will be published by John Wiley & Sons in early March of 2013.

DTRA/SCC-WMD Announces $1 Million Algorithm Challenge

DATE: 12/13/2012

TAGS: Government

DTRA/SCC-WMD’s most recent initiative is “The DTRA Algorithm Challenge” – an open competition hosted by InnoCentive with a $1 Million prize for the individual or team that develops an algorithm which can most rapidly and accurately characterize a complex clinical sample based solely on raw DNA sequence data.

Your City Needs These 7 Open Data Apps

DATE: 11/07/2012

TAGS: Government

Our work with the City of Boston on the Street Bump Challenge is profiled on Mashable Tech as a top open data app for cities and their citizens.

Health Data Consortium Interview with InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin

DATE: 09/07/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

The Health Data Consortium (HDC) is a collaboration among government, non-profit, and private sector organizations working to foster the availability and use of health data to drive innovations that improve health and health care. In this post, the HDC interviews Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive and a member of HDC’s Executive Committee.

App Detects Potholes, Alerts Boston City Officials

DATE: 07/20/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

Associated Press story on the successful outcome of InnoCentive's Street Bump Challenge with the City of Boston.

Federal Crowdsourcing May Solve Problems Fast

DATE: 06/15/2012

TAGS: Government

InnoCentive’s Jon Fredrickson is interviewed in this comprehensive article. He discusses the concept of crowdsourcing, some history behind InnoCentive, along with some of the key government customers with whom InnoCentive has worked, including Air Force Research Labs (AFRL) and NASA. Says Fredrickson: “Using crowdsourcing, an agency can get a great number of potential solutions to a problem in a very short time frame.”

Feds Launch Contest Seeking New Type Of Health Monitoring Device

DATE: 06/08/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

This article explores how three federal agencies are trying to tap the creativity of the marketplace to develop a new breed of portable, light-weight, inexpensive sensors to better understand how individuals are affected by air pollution. Called the "My Air, My Health" Challenge, it is currently open to Solvers on InnoCentive.com.

NIH, EPA Announce Competition for Personal Air Pollution and Health Sensors

DATE: 06/06/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

A competition to create a personal sensor system that measures air pollution and a person's physiological response to it will offer cash awards to finalists, federal officials announced today. The goal is to help researchers, communities, and physicians better understand the connection between air quality and health. The "My Air, My Health: An HHS/EPA Challenge" is now open on the InnoCentive Challenge Center.

Innovation for the People, by the People

DATE: 02/22/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

In this article about prizes and challenges as catalysts for innovation, writer David Bornstein highlights InnoCentive and the Air Force Research Lab's Vehicle Stopper Challenge. The article focuses on the federal government's innovation strategies, and addresses the question "How can governments unearth knowledge that's scattered far and wide and bring it together in a way that is useful for society?"

Motion-Activated Pothole Sensors ... In Your Phone

DATE: 02/17/2012

TAGS: Government

This article in The Atlantic highlights the strengths of the City of Bostons's Street Bump app, one of which is that drivers need only turn it on to collect pothole data. The data, sent to a central database, is then analyzed using an algorithm developed by InnoCentive Solvers in the InnoCentive Street Bump Challenge.

Street Bump app detects potholes, tells city officials

DATE: 02/16/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

The City of Boston's InnoCentive Challenge is featured in this story from CNN.com. For this Challenge, the City of Boston asked Solvers to develop an algorithm that would accurately predict the location of potholes based on data collected from volunteers' smart phones.

Street Bump: An App That Automatically Tells The City When You Drive Over Potholes

DATE: 02/15/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

This FastCompany article features the Street Bump mobile app developed by the City of Boston in collaboration with InnoCentive. The story recognizes the Solver, Ed Aboufadel, a Professor at Grand Valley State University.

Crowdsourcing science: Could you be part of the next big breakthrough?

DATE: 02/13/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

In this article, from NRC Canada's Dimensions Magazine, features InnoCentive Solver Andrew Trivett. In addition to being a prolific Solver, Andrew uses Challenges to advance the studies of his class at the University of Prince Edward Island, where he is a math professor.

Boston Asks for the Public's Help in Fixing Potholes

DATE: 02/13/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

Coverage of the City of Boston's Street Bump Challenge, which was recently solved. The Street Bump Challenge is a great example of governments using the crowd to deliver better services to citizens, and to invite participation so people can have a hand in improving their own cities.

A call for a 21st-century battlefield stretcher

DATE: 02/10/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

The Air Force Research Lab has again reached out to the InnoCentive Solver Community for solutions to a critical problem. Since the Civil War, the Air Force has used the same technology for medical stretchers used in combat. Now they are seeking a new technology that will provide faster, safer, more reliable outcomes in the field. This Challenge has truly captured the imaginations of Solvers and the media.

Air Force 'Batman' Wants a 21st-Century Battlefield Stretcher

DATE: 02/10/2012

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

In this article, journalist Jeremy Hsu writes about the AFRL stretcher Challenge, and the need for the Air Force to innovate in the field of combat rescue.

Why contests are a smart procurement tool

DATE: 02/09/2012

TAGS: Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation

Harvard University Professor Steve Kelman writes about the value of contests for innovation in government, and discusses the rule of marginality - that the best ideas often come from someone outside the field of the answer sought.

Humanitarian Air Drop Snafus Get Crowd-Sourced

DATE: 11/11/2011

TAGS: Government

Feature story about how the United States Air Force worked with InnoCentive to improve humanitarian air drops.

Crowd-Sourcing Yields Ingenious Solutions for Air Force Research Lab

DATE: 11/07/2011

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

The Air Force Research Lab's work with InnoCentive is profiled, including a video of InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin talking about open innovation in government.

Air Force innovation prizes make cents in budget era

DATE: 10/21/2011

TAGS: Government

Story about the US Air Force's collaboration with InnoCentive to provide solutions to critical Challenges. This article highlights a Challenge to distribute humanitarian aid from the air without harm to people on the ground.

The Air Force Challenge to protect soldiers in rapid descent featured on Today

DATE: 10/21/2011

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

The Today Show's web site features an AFRL Challenge that aims to protect soldiers from harm when descending a rope quickly.

Military dangles prize for helicopter fast-rope solution

DATE: 10/20/2011

TAGS: Government, Open Innovation

Feature story about the Air Force Research Lab's "FAST" Rope Challenge. The story highlights the growing acceptance of open innovation in government.

Air Force procurement contests take wing

DATE: 10/07/2011

TAGS: Government, Open Innovation

Steve Kelman from Federal Computer Week writes about how the Air Force's success in using InnoCentive Challenges has led them to integrate open innovation into their innovation strategy. The article specifically mentions the AFRL's Vehicle Stopper Challenge, which was won by a retired 66-year-old mechanical engineer from Lima, Peru.

White House Reports on Success of Air Force Research Lab's Challenge

DATE: 09/02/2011

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

In this blog posted on whitehouse.gov, Alok Das of the Air Force Research Laboratory discusses the successful outcome of a Challenge focused on stopping uncooperative vehicles. Interesting Solver and solution details are provided in the post.

Will NIH Embrace Biomedical Research Prizes?

DATE: 07/19/2011

TAGS: Government, Innovation, Open Innovation

InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin quoted in an article about incentivized research. The article looks at the potential of research prizes when adopted by America's premier funder of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

XChange Public Sector: Why Large Federal Programs Fail

DATE: 06/17/2011

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

A review of William Eggers’s (global director of Deloitte Services Research Public Sector) book "If We Can Get a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government" that includes an example of NASA using InnoCentive for technology problems.

Innovation: Telling a pothole from a curb

DATE: 05/31/2011

TAGS: Government, Open Innovation

An editorial praises the City of Boston for it's innovative approach to fixing potholes, and mentions InnoCentive.

Think hard, invent something, win a prize

DATE: 05/27/2011

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

A blog post reiterating that online contests are a great version of performance-based contracting, and mentions NASA using InnoCentive for their contests.

Waltham business works to give Boston commuters a smoother ride

DATE: 05/18/2011

TAGS: Corporation, Government, Innovation, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

An article about the SpeedBump Challenge posted on InnoCentive. The article includes a brief history of InnoCentive, a description of the InnoCentive.com process and quotes from Dwayne

Weapons in the battle

DATE: 02/09/2011

TAGS: Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

An article about Boston, MA, trying to find new ways to tackle a common problem - potholes. Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s Office of New Urban Mechanics is working on an application for smartphones that would automatically detect and report potholes. The application will be tested through a Challenge on InnoCentive for $25,000 in prize money.

Community Foundation to fund problem-solving challenge

DATE: 01/29/2011

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

An article about the InnoCentive Creating a Community of Successful Readers, posted by the Community Foundation of North Louisiana. The Challenge is the first in a series of “ideas competition” to elicit ideas idea for solving an annually chosen problem affecting the community.

Toyota Turns to Consumers for ‘Ideas’

DATE: 11/08/2010

TAGS: Corporation, Crowdsourcing, Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

An article about Toyota's “Ideas for good” campaign, which invites consumers to come up with new ways to use five existing Toyota Motor technologies. InnoCentive worked as a consultant with them on the design of the contest.

Is Breakthrough Innovation In Next Year’s Budget?

DATE: 10/26/2010

TAGS: Best Practice, Corporation, Crowdsourcing, Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Not for Profit, Open Innovation

CEO Dwayne Spradlin wrote this article for the Frost & Sullivan eNewsletter. The article is about the importance of optimizing innovation, and the need to plan the budget now, vs. waiting until 2011 has begun and it’s likely to be too late.

Governments looking for innovations in products, services and processes

DATE: 10/07/2010

TAGS: Corporation, Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation

The writer, Michael Keating, talks to Jon Fredrickson about how the government can use open innovation and offers some examples in finding out-of-the-box solutions.

6 keys to building a culture of innovation

DATE: 08/04/2010

TAGS: Corporation, Government, Open Innovation

CEO Dwayne Spradlin discusses how an organization’s innovative culture is a combination of the right technology, culture and people, working together seamlessly to deliver innovative solutions to important organizational problems. He describes the top six drivers for establishing an innovation culture across an organization, paying attention to some of specific challenges faced by government bodies.

A Web-based model for procurement contests

DATE: 07/21/2010

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation

A blog post describing InnoCentive and recommending us as a cost-effective option that government agencies should be considering. He references one of the NASA Challenges and briefly explains why InnoCentive is a great option for R&D procurement.

Who gets the credit for the BP container cap? YOU do.

DATE: 07/20/2010

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

A guest post by Darlene Cavalier, co-founder of ScienceCheerleader.com for the Discover Magazine blog, recommending that the government formalize a process to solicit and vet solutions from the public in light of the overwhelming response to the oil spill clean-up. She includes CEO Dwayne Spradlin as part of a think-tank to help pre-wire the system before the next crisis, suggests that InnoCentive should be an option to solicit & process ideas.

NASA Announces Space Invention Awards

DATE: 07/14/2010

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Open Innovation

An article describing the NASA Challenges and their winners and solutions.

UK mulls science cash prizes for innovation

DATE: 07/07/2010

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation

An article about the UK government considering using cash prize-based competition for discovering new technologies as a cost-effective way to support their R&D. InnoCentive is mentioned as a successful commercial example of using this method in their online marketplace.

NASA Announces Winners of Space Life Sciences Open Innovation Competition

DATE: 07/07/2010

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation

NASA's press release announcing the three winning Challenges, the InnoCentive Solvers and their solutions. It also mentions how these Challenges (plus one upcoming one), and by extension InnoCentive, are part of their overall innovation strategy.

How to stop the spill

DATE: 06/02/2010

TAGS: Corporation, Crowdsourcing, Government, Making the Business Case, Not for Profit, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

Chris Mathew's from NBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" interviews InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin about the oil spill Challenge. They discuss the variety of the solutions submitted by our Solvers and the underlying need for those in charge to start looking very seriously at the some of the solutions to clean up the oil spill.

Freeze It, Crimp It, Plug It, Nuke It

DATE: 05/26/2010

TAGS: Corporation, Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Not for Profit, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

Slate.com's Josh Levin asks InnoCentive IPM Mike Albarelli to comment on suggestions for stopping the oil spill that was submitted by their readers.

NASA Challenges Through Open Innovation

DATE: 04/13/2010

TAGS: Corporation, Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Open Innovation

This is an article on the NASA website that describes how they are using open innovation to search for solutions that impact human health and performance in short and long duration human spaceflight. InnoCentive is mentioned as a resource for how they’re using open innovation to help solve challenges that impact their astronauts.

Innovation and the economy in 2010

DATE: 12/17/2009

TAGS: Corporation, Crowdsourcing, Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Not for Profit, Open Innovation, Social Innovation

This is a 50-minute video segment of a panel discussion that CEO Dwayne Spradlin participated in as part of the Economist’s The World in 2010 event in Washington D.C. He offers his insight into the future of innovation discusses the state of the economy, economic and business innovation, and opportunities for growth.

Innovation in a Recession

DATE: 09/25/2009

TAGS: Corporation, Crowdsourcing, Government, Innovation, Making the Business Case, Not for Profit, Open Innovation

CTO David Ritter is included in KQED Radio’s “Forum with Michael Krasny” to discuss how some companies are leveraging new technology to foster innovation in a down economy.

Thinkers Putting Creative Caps On For Cash

DATE: 11/06/2008

TAGS: Crowdsourcing, Government

InnoCentive is featured as a prize-based and crowdsourcing site. It mentions the Solver John Davis and the Seeker Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.