Perspectives on Innovation

Solver since 2009

Occupation: CEO of Cizzle Biotech
Education: PhD in molecular biology; JD
Residence: United Kingdom
Challenges Awarded: 2

1. Control of Bubble Size in Carbonated Beverages ($15,000 Challenge)
2. Stabilizing an Oil and Food-Seasoning Suspension ($25,000 Challenge)

I stumbled onto InnoCentive while visiting nature.com. I’ve won two InnoCentive Challenges and while the monetary award is nice, equally fulfilling is the satisfaction of solving a significant, real-world problem. You might find it interesting to know that you don’t have to be an ‘expert’ in the field of a particular Challenge to be successful. Take me, for example. I have a PhD in molecular biology but my successful Challenges were in engineering. All you need is a passion for learning and new ideas. Even if you do not win an award, you can’t lose because in any case you will learn something new.

For most of my career, you could say I have been in the business of ideas. During a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, I decided I wanted an alternative career in science and ended up choosing intellectual property. My first job in patents was at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a place I highly recommend for those wanting to move away from the bench but stay on the cutting edge of science. One of the great perks of working in patents, whether at a patent office, a law firm, or in-house, is that you get to see new inventions long before most others.

If you want to move into intellectual property, it is a good idea to have a law degree, so in addition to my day job, I went to law school at night. Going back to college for yet another degree (I already had a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degree) and doing so on top of a full time job was not what I would describe as a pleasant, albeit however necessary, experience. Since law school, I have worked exclusively in biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Recently, I had the opportunity to work abroad and jumped at the chance. I now live in the UK and I’m the CEO of Cizzle Biotech, a spin-out of the University of York. Needless to say, I don’t have as much time these days to work on Challenges, so please, take my place and best of luck.

The following post was written by Tim O’Brien, InnoCentive’s Marketing Manager.

A successful solution contains more than great ideas — the presentation of those ideas is equally vital. Solvers frequently ask us “how should I format my solution?” This is a difficult question, as every Challenge is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution template (we’ve awarded submissions that range from two paragraphs to over 100 pages). Instead of providing an overly restrictive template or form for submissions, we suggest keeping in mind a few simple guidelines. Below are three past blog posts from our client services teams that highlight some common themes and best practices for developing and presenting a winning solution.

Blog post: 10 Tips for Writing a Winning Solution

Not sure where to begin? Start with these 10 tips based on previous winning solutions. Remember if you have a Challenge-specific question, you can communicate with the Seeker using the “Messages” tab in the Challenge Project Room. (more…)

I recently read a blog post on the Harvard Business Review that falls into InnoCentive’s “sweet spot” of out-of-the-box-thinking and diversity.

The article, Want Innovative Thinking? Hire from the Humanities by Tony Golsby-Smith, is about the importance of diversity in the workplace – the diversity of thought, knowledge and academic background. Many of our Solvers have solved InnoCentive Challenges that are outside their sphere of expertise, but because of their cerebral dexterity, coupled with imagination, experience, knowledge and adaptability, have allowed them to solve Challenges that the domain’s owner had not envisioned. Case in point: Solver Bruce Cragin is a semiretired radio frequency engineer who won the NASA Challenge “Data-Driven Forecasting of Solar Events.” The Challenged was looking for a suitable method to more reliably predict the particle storms originating with solar events. Though Cragin had various degrees & experiences in physics, engineering and as a radio frequency engineer, he’d never worked in the area of solar physics. His experience with image analysis skills, interest in “small comet hypothesis” and curiosity about the theory of magnetic reconnection” enabled him to connect the dots.

Golsby-Smith does not address related disciplines in his article, but he goes one step further and recommends hiring graduates that are not only in science, business or economics, but in the humanities. He argues that these graduates are taught how to navigate look up and out to question and discover the “unknowns”. Graduates of philosophy, drama, literature, ethics, history, etc are, by the very nature of their subject matter, taught to “play with big concepts” – to observe people and situations, to be curious, to consider “why”, what were they thinking”, “what if”, etc.  This is the kind of thinking that needs to be included in a world full of analytics, reasoning, and dissection, when faced with “a murky future”.

It is an interesting article and has elicited quite a lot of comments. Check it out here.

Solver since 2009

Occupation: Freelancer in pharmaceutical business research
Education: PhD in pharmaceutical technology
Residence: Japan
Challenges Awarded: 2

1. Definition of Region for Clinical Trials ($10,000 Challenge)
2. Literature Examples of API/Excipient Incompatibility ($10,000 Challenge)

I am a freelancer working in pharmaceutical business research domain. I first learned about InnoCentive in 2002 during my master’s program. Since then I have always been interested in InnoCentive, however I could not find time to work on Challenges due to my research work.

After my bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Delhi University, I pursued my master’s and doctoral studies from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Punjab, India. After completing my education, I worked for a Knowledge Process Outsourcing company in Delhi where I worked in the life sciences and healthcare division. Though I kept looking at Challenges, I could not focus on solving them because of time constraints. It was only after moving to Japan in 2009 and becoming a freelancer that I worked my way back to InnoCentive while visiting nature.com.

I attempted to solve problems not only related to my subject but also other interesting Challenges where I could fit my ideas perfectly. Initially, when I submitted my solution for an Ideation Challenge, I was never confident that I would hit the target. But the award for my first solution gave me the confidence to explore more and each Challenge brings with it bounty of learning and knowledge, whether I win or not.

Solving these Challenges gives me immense satisfaction and provides me with a chance to get my ideas out to the global community. InnoCentive has not only given me an opportunity to successfully apply my skills in solving Challenges but also created awareness. I strongly believe that knowledge never goes to waste and because of some Challenges I have become sensitive to issues which did not bother me before. At times we take many things for granted or do not realize the depth of the situation. Challenges posted on InnoCentive such as those related to PET bottle caps are not only interesting but also bring to light the underlying problems.

InnoCentive provides a very constructive platform for working minds from all over the world. Solvers are not limited by geography, profession, or educational background, so problems are seen with different perspectives. For Solvers, it is an opportunity to work on realistic and complex industrial issues which they may not face personally and also to look beyond their focus areas. There are no limitations or restrictions of how you approach the problem and it is totally upon your intellect and creativity to solve it.

Among the many other forums working on similar business models, I feel InnoCentive clearly stands out. Their staff is very supportive and the whole process from viewing the Challenge, to submitting the solution and then getting the award is completely uncomplicated and genuine. I sometimes wish I could know the real solution that answered the Challenge, especially for Ideation Challenges, just for curiosity’s sake. I am proud to be a member of InnoCentive family and hope to contribute in future Challenges.

Jose Luis Susa Rincon is the winner of the NESTA Challenge Transforming Parental Engagement in the Way Young People Learn.

I am an Electronic Engineer, with a background in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. My degree as an Electronic Engineer was in Colombia in 2008 from the University: “Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito”. I also have a Masters Degree in Engineering from the “Ecole National d’Ingenieurs de Brest” in France (2008) where I worked at Ensta’s Laboratory of Cognitive Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Since 2007 I have been working, especially, in robotic research and mobile robots applications, like a “Robot Guard”. Moreover, at the moment I am trying to apply the robotics on the education field in Colombia.

I knew about InnoCentive in 2008, since that moment, it means to me an opportunity to be creative, like an opened door to start my way to change the world. There, I have seen many challenges and I have been interested in some of them; finally my father Jose Felix Susa (Coordinator of the International Institute of high abilities in Latin America and Central America) and me worked together for one, and we won! I have to recognize my father’s work in this Challenge, his experience in Education, Special Talented Children, Intelligence Development and all their invaluable knowledge in these fields made us the best team for achieve this bid.

I always fancied being an inventor, because of that I chose Engineering as my profession: to re-invent the world. I believe in the capacity of innovation in each one of us as a human characteristic, we just need to believe in our ideas, believe that each new idea could make the difference in this world. That’s why I always encourage the people to do something, invent something and make better our environment. I think that everything is possible and I work for become one idea in a fact.

What about me?

Ok, I’m a funny guy, who is always thinking about different stuff and has something to say (at least very often). I like listen to music, go dancing or to the cinema, especially if they have sci-fi movies, I love to travel, and sleep.

I have a good family and we spend good times together in Colombia, where we live by the moment. However, I’m planning go to study abroad the country. I think, like most of people, that we are in this world for one thing: Be Happy. So, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” like the song, therefore I try to do that and living every day as the last day. As a result, I have lots of lovely times with my loved ones.

Well, this is a short description of me. Now you know a little more about me.

Cheers!