Perspectives on Innovation

In late March, we announced the winner of the Economist-InnoCentive Transparency Challenge.  Benjamin Skowera, an associate at SEI Investments presented his solution at the Ideas Economy: Innovation event on March 28th in Berkeley, California. The InnoCentive Challenge, which attracted more than 600 problem Solvers and received more than 115 submissions on the InnoCentive website, asked participants to identify an emerging technology or a national or global information platform and propose an innovative way to use this resource to motivate governments to engage in productive and open discourse with citizens.  Below is a video of Benjamin and Matthew Bishop, US Business editor and New York Bureau Chief for the Economist discussing Benjamin’s winning solution at The Economist’s Ideas Economy: Innovation 2012 event in Berkeley, California.

We recently posted a Challenge with the Consumer Electronics Association and the Environmental Defense Fund as part of our EDF/InnoCentive EcoChallenge Series.  The Challenge seeks financially viable, environmentally-beneficial business models based on the repurposing of recycled Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) glass from used televisions and computer monitors.  We spoke with Walter Alcorn, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association about the Challenge and the importance of solving this critical environmental issue.

Hi Walter – thanks for agreeing to talk with our Solvers today.  Your Challenge, New Uses for Recycled Glass, specifically calls for new uses for CRT screens, once the standard for televisions and other types of monitors.  How big a problem is used CRT glass for the environment?

The disposition of used CRT glass is a serious resource conservation and recovery issue.  Although used CRT glass is inert while still intact as old TV and monitor tubes, CRT glass contains a significant amount of lead that could be released into the environment if processed inappropriately or mismanaged.

Safe recycling is a big deal for my industry – the consumer electronics industry. Last April we announced the eCycling Leadership Initiative with an ambitious Billion Pound Challenge to more than triple the amount of electronics recycled annually by our industry from 300 million pounds in 2010 to one billion in 2016.

These billions of pounds of recycled electronics need to be recycled responsibly and the materials put back into productive use.  By weight, more than half of all collected consumer electronics are old televisions and computer monitors, and the heaviest component of most of those products are CRTs. For decades, CRT was the technology of choice in the display industry but during the past decade, demand for CRTs has dropped drastically as newer flat-panel technologies like LCD and plasma have become affordable and widely available. Until now most CRT glass collected for recycling was cleaned up and recycled into new CRT units, but the market for new CRT displays is now nearly gone.  Uses for CRT glass with lead (e.g., funnel glass) is particularly challenging.

Why did you choose to pose this Challenge to the InnoCentive Solver Network?

We needed raise the visibility of this situation beyond the recycling industry.  New applications for CRT glass, and potentially new processing technologies are needed to appropriately recycle this material.  We are excited about the encouraging response from the Solver community with more than 250 project rooms opened in the first 2 weeks.   Hopefully this is a sign that economically and environmentally viable uses for CRT glass truly exist.

What will you do with the solution once it has been selected? Are you hoping to take it forward and would you consider working with the Solver to further develop the solution? (more…)

By David Sample, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, InnoCentive

I’m a road warrior.  I’ve spent a career expanding businesses to remote corners of the world and have been fortunate to discover innovation and intellectual curiosity in the most unexpected of places.  From the rain forests of Brazil to the deserts of Dubai, I’ve learned that we all share a need to solve problems.  We all want to make our worlds better.  And we all want to connect with others who challenge us.

This is why joining InnoCentive has been so fulfilling for me.  As Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, I’m tasked with expanding our global footprint to increase the innovation capacity of organizations around the world.  This means not only ensuring that our Solver network comprises a diverse mix of individuals from as many different backgrounds as possible, but also providing problems for our Solvers to work on that reflect issues they may not have encountered before.

Over the past few months, we’ve been actively formalizing partnerships to help us extend our reach in strategic geographies.   In Q2, we selected Innovabia, an Arabian Advanced Systems company, to help us bring new Seekers onboard in the Middle East and North Africa. Innovabia is headquartered in Dubai, UAE, and Riyadh, KSA, and has a deep understanding of the business needs in this area. We participated in a formal kick off with our first corporate KSA client, SABIC at an Innovabia/AAS hosted reception and dinner in Riyadh.  InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin, pictured at the event, pledged a dual effort to expand the Solver and Seeker communities in the region.

Also in Q2, Innovia joined forces with InnoCentive as a partner in South America. Headquartered in Brazil, they will work to expand the Seeker and Solver presence in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.  In Q3, InnoCentive helped kick off a new partnership in Colombia by participating in an Innovation Day, sponsored by our partner, Tecnova. Over 750 people attended the event and were very enthusiastic about the address given by InnoCentive’s VP of Government Jon Fredrickson. Tecnova will provide solutions throughout Colombia and Peru. (more…)

Why would Popular Science join forces with InnoCentive? Popular Science is all about problem solving – bringing the world extraordinary and previously unimaginable scientific breakthroughs as far back as the telephone. The notion that groundbreaking innovation can come from anywhere is what has helped Popular Science build such a loyal following among readers. At InnoCentive we believe in the same principles, and have built a community of people from “anywhere” who can’t wait to see what we throw at them next. When we combine Popular Science’s content and readership with InnoCentive’s network of brilliant problem solvers, the result is an explosion of creativity, imagination, ingenuity, and brainpower.

Now you have a chance to “Make Your Ideas Part of the Revolution!”  Popular Science is looking for innovative new ways to teach the next generation of scientists. But time is running out.  The Popular Science/InnoCentive Challenge is only  open for a few more days.  Click here and submit your solution before it’s too late!

The Economist and Qualcomm have a question for you. What’s the biggest challenge facing your community that you think can be solved in 2012? Whether you think of your community as the block you live on or the planet we all share, everyone has an answer to that question.

If you can take a photograph or video of the problem and send it to us, you could win $1000 and a trip for two to New York to attend the Economist’s World in 2012 Festival. Possibly even more importantly, your idea will be heard by people who might be able do something about it.

Enter now – all it takes is a click of the camera and a desire to change the world for the better.