Mission Future @ Ars Electronica 2008

Hi there,

On September 8 in Linz, Austria, we will be holding a one-day symposium on the future of open innovation and the impact of the knowledge-sharing economy on business and culture.  The event is called  Mission Future and is held in partnership with Ars Electronica, one of the world's foremost digital art festivals.  We will have the privilege of hearing from pioneers such as Joichi Ito (Technorati, Creative Commons, Infoseek Japan), Isaac Mao (United Capital Investment Group, Social Brain Foundation) and Lars Hinrichs (Xing).  Visit our website http://missionfuture.trendpool.com to see other speakers and goings-on at Mission Future.

We are now trying to spread the word about Mission Future and were wondering if you would consider mentioning our event and website in your blog, either in your own words or using the press release we have prepared.  Of course, we would be very happy to post links to your blog on the Mission Future website, too.  

I have attached the aforementioned press release, as well as a pamphlet about Mission Future and the people and philosophy behind the initiative.  Please take a moment to read it.  

We look forward to hearing back from you.

Best Regards,

Antonia Mann 

Open Innovation

Open Innovation is a term promoted by Henry Chesbrough, a professor and executive director at the Center for Open Innovation at Berkeley. The concept is related to (but distinct from) user innovation, cumulative innovation and distributed innovation.

The central idea behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (i.e. patents) from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company (e.g., through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs). In contrast, closed innovation refers to processes that limit the use of internal knowledge within a company and make little or no use of external knowledge. Some companies promoting open innovation include Procter & Gamble, Innovation Exchange, NineSigma, InnoCentive, yet2.com, and IBM.

• 1 Open source vs. Open Innovation
• 2 Difference between traditional innovation and open innovation
• 3 References
• 4 See also
• 5 External links

Speaker Series with Henry Chesbrough on Open Innovation

InnoCentive - Open Innovation Marketplace

InnoCentive is an "open innovation" company that takes research and development problems in a broad range of domains such as Engineering, Computer Science, Math, Chemistry, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Business, frames them as "challenge problems", and opens them up for anyone to solve them. It gives cash awards for the best solutions to solvers who meet the challenge criteria.^[1]

History

The idea for InnoCentive came to Alpheus Bingham and Aaron Schacht after they attended a public lecture at the Santa Fe Institute.^[2] The company was launched in 2001 by Jill Panetta, Jeff Hensley, Darren Carroll and Alpheus Bingham.

In December 2006 the company signed an agreement with the Rockefeller Foundation to add a non-profit area designed to generate science and technology solutions to pressing problems in the developing world.^[3]

As of early 2007, InnoCentive's web site features an award from the non-profit "Prize 4 Life" foundation for $1 million for finding a biomarker that measures ALS disease progression.

The Company

InnoCentive is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

InnoCentive calls the scientists who attempt the problems "solvers" and the companies these problems come from as "seekers". As of 2005 InnoCentive had 34 of these "seekers" (including Procter & Gamble, Dow AgroSciences and Eli Lilly), which have posted more than 200 "challenges" in 40 scientific disciplines, of which more than 58 had been solved by over 120,000 "solvers".^[4]

The problems listed are categorized as biology or chemistry problems, but use a very liberal definition of these disciplines, for example challenges have been posted in the areas of system network theory, manufacturing engineering, design, materials science and nanotechnology.

Solutions have come from US, Europe, Russia, China, India and Argentina; the cash awards for solving challenge problems are typically in the $10,000 to $100,000 range.

InnoCentive provides a consultancy service to enable its clients to make the most of its "solver" network. "Science advisers" and "problem definers" help clients to identify a challenge appropriate for posting on its network. They then estimate an appropriate award fee by determining the complexity of the problem, the resources required find a solution, and the value transferred to the company. InnoCentive reserves the right to reject the award amounts that are deemed too low and its experts provide a solution vetting service to screen out ideas that do not meet the challenge criteria.

InnoCentive forces its "seeker" companies to agree to intellectual property audits so that once a solution is provided to the company it can guarantee that the intellectual property is not used if the company decides not to award it. The company may also force the "seeker" company to award the solution if it deems that it meets the requirements of the challenge.

InnoCentive also provides a consultancy service to its network of "solvers". Its "science experts" provide feedback to explain the terms of the challenges as well as why submitted solutions may be deficient. It provides the logistic and legal framework for maintaining their control over the intellectual property until its sale to the seeker company. All communication and submitted solutions remain confidential.

Competitors offering similar services include Innovation Exchange, Fellowforce, NineSigma, yet2.com, and YourEncore.

References

1. ^ Prizes for Solutions to Problems Play Valuable Role in Innovation The Wall Street Journal Online, 25 January 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
2. ^ Special 20th Anniversary Edition of the Santa Fe Institute Bulletin, Fall 2004. (Page 27)
3. ^ InnoCentive press release, 19 December 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
4. ^ Innovating Beyond Boundaries: Open Innovation Mohan Sawhney, Merck Academic Lecture, 9 May 2005 (PowerPoint presentation. Retrieved 4 May 2007.

OpenSocial Takes on China

OpenSocial Takes on China

via The Social Times by Nick O'Neill on 6/12/08

Google has announced that seven new social networks in China have been added to the OpenSocial standard: 51.com, 51wan.com, Douban.com, Hainei.com, Tianji.com, Xiaonei.com and YiQi.com. These are all large social networks, one of which, Xiaonei.com, appears to be a direct rip off of Facebook. The company also recently raised $430 million making it better funded then Facebook itself.

I would imagine that any hopes of Facebook joining the OpenSocial movement have been eliminated for the time being with Xiaonei being announced as one of the large partners. As OpenSocial continues to expand its reach, the battle between the Facebook platform and OpenSocial continues. While most developers building on Facebook have been focused on the impending platform changes, OpenSocial developers have been hard at work trying to extend their reach with the launch of each new supporting platform.

OpenSocial has been extremely successful with gaining momentum recently announcing that MyAOL would be supporting OpenSocial and that more AOL products will also support the standard in the near future. If there is a lesson to be learned here, I'd say that Facebook needs to have a platform evangelist that also goes and pitches their platform to other sites. They are ultimately losing the battle to OpenSocial when it comes to platform adoption.

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to The Social Times using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Croudfunding

Crowdfunding, inspired by crowdsourcing, describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money together, usually via the Internet, in order to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowdfunding occurs for any variety of purposes, from disaster relief to citizen journalism to artists seeking support from fans, to political campaigns.

Overview

Crowdfunding can replace the need for specialized grant applications or other more formal and traditional fundraising techniques with that of a more casual, yet powerful, approach based on crowd participation. Examples of the basis of Crowdfunding can be seen in Cooperatives (co-ops) around the world. However, the Internet can provide new streamlined approaches to quickly imitating the co-op model for low-level and/or sudden needs (ie. disaster relief, travel expenses, legal fees and so on.). It is this reason that a term be used to encompass the act of informally generating and distributing funds, usually online, by groups of people for specific social, personal, entertainment or other purposes.

Crowdfunding, like Crowdsourcing, is very much related to online communities and social networks. The crowd can already exist as a community but they can also suddenly form from disparate groups around the world who all happen to share an interest in funding a person, project, event, campaign etcetera. The Internet allows for information to flow around the world, increasing awareness. A Crowdfunded network can assemble and disassemble at any time. This is the primary difference to traditional co-ops.

Influence of the crowd is another factor. Crowd psychology sometimes can play a part in the success or failure of crowdfunding efforts. Likewise, forms of Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) is related to the mindset of people who participate in crowdfunding efforts.

 

Examples

• ArtistShare ArtistShare is a service for musicians to fund their projects outside the normal recording industry. It utilizes micropayments to allow the general public to directly finance, and in some cases gain access to extra material from an artist. In 2004, Maria Schneider became the first artist to win a Grammy with an album distributed exclusively over the Internet. Distributed through ArtistShare she received four nominations for her album Concert in the Garden and won Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

• PledgeBank (pledgebank.com) while not exclusively for funding has often been used to raise money for various projects and charities. For example a person might pledge, "I will give $1000 to... if 50 others will also pledge atleast $50."

• Have Money Will Vlog (HaveMoneyWillVlog.com)is a project that involves a group of volunteers that act as advocates for vlog proposals. The advocates promote projects they believe in to potential donors, whether they are friends and family or reaching out to those who subscribe to their blogs and related mailing lists etc. It's a very intimate affair that relies on Crowdfunding to reach the pledge drive's goals. The first few projects have all been successful.

• A Swarm of Angels is a Cinema 2.0 project to utilize a swarm of subscribers (Angels) to help fund, make, contribute, and distribute a £1 million feature film using the Internet and all digital technologies. It aims to recruit earlier development community members with the right expertise into paid project members, film crew, and production staff.

• Sell a Band (sellaband.com) is a service for musicians and bands to promote their work in an effort to gain "believers" who will help to fund the production and distribution of an album. Believers must raise $50k in order to graduate the artists into contractual agreements. Believers can earn money back from ad revenue used in tandem with giving away the music for free online at sellaband's site.

• i am verity (iamverity.com) Fans can become a "future owner today" by helping to raise $80,000 for recording costs and charity benefits. In essence, the artist is asking people to buy an album before it exists... so that it can exist. Also, 5.3% of money earned will be used to help others succeed (vague). Another 5.3% of everything earned goes to "People Opposing Woman Abuse's" work in South Africa. Once the target of 5000 albums is sold, The hope is to increase the percentage put towards these charities and make a difference in South Africa.

• fundavlog (fundavlog.com) fundavlog is an experimental project that will attempt to sustain and/or incubate videoblog related projects and events by growing a Crowdfunded Network offering configurable 'payment pages' with simple funding functionality. Reciprocity and Transparency are the core basis in order to build a trusted attention network of people who are interested in the videoblog culture. Users deposit money into the fundavlog bank which they then can use to fund various types of entries submited by other users.

• fundable.org (fundable.org) A service allowing for the creation and management of fundable "group action" pages where pledges can be accepted. If a campaign does not reach its goal within a set time (14 or 25 days), then all pledges are negated and no money distributed.

• firstgiving.com (firstgiving.com) A service that allows fundraisers to create online person-to-person fundraising pages for any US non-profit. The funds are directly transferred to the non-profit which differentiates firstgiving from other services.

• chipin.com (chipin.com) Another service for creating pledge drives and campaigns to raise and distribute funds. Similar to fundable.org but the main difference is that chipin.com does not currently require a time limit to reach the target amount.

• laraghfinance.com (laraghfinance.com) A company that raises funding for businesses using the crowd funding concept, private placements are no longer only accessible for high net worth individuals and big institutions. A large group of small investors can together come up with the total capital a company need to execute its business plans.

• robinhoodfund.com (http://www.robinhoodfund.com) The Robinhood Fund is committed to fulfill as many everyday wishes for as many everyday people as possible. Anyone can submit a wish, and through the wisdom of crowds, wishes are fulfilled. Wishes are divided into two categories with one wish from heartfelt need and one wish from simple greed getting fulfilled. "The Robinhood Fund is different because we allow the crowd – not elite individuals such as a board – to decide which wishes should be granted." This is a Cambrian House project.

• ActBlue is a Federal PAC that enables anyone — individuals, local groups, and national organizations — to fundraise for the Democratic candidates of their choice. Previously, only the most well-funded and technologically-savvy groups have employed these powerful fundraising methods. But with ActBlue, groups and individuals need only choose their candidates and make their solicitations. By providing all the technical, financial, and compliance systems, ActBlue enables every progressive organization and individual to make the most of their networks - rapidly raising otherwise untapped millions for Democrats in the closest races.
• FilmRiot is a crowdfunding service for filmmakers. Film lovers can contribute as little as $10 towards a film concept and will be rewarded with royalties from sales of the finished film. The site is in alpha/beta right now and will have full functionality by the middle of January 2008.
• IndieGoGo is an online social marketplace connecting filmmakers and fans to make independent film happen.  The platform provides filmmakers the tools for project funding, recruiting, and promotion, while enabling the audience to discover and connect directly with filmmakers and the causes they support.  Since launching at Sundance 08, filmmakers have successfully raised thousands of dollars with DIWO (Do-it-with-others) funding.

Reference: http://crowdfunding.pbwiki.com/

 

Threadless - Open solver example 1

Community based Tshirt design company

Threadless is a community-centered online apparel store run by skinnyCorp of Chicago, Illinois, since 2000. Co-founders Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart started the company with $1,000 in seed money after entering an internet t-shirt design contest.^[1][2]

Members of the Threadless community submit t-shirt designs online; the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit.

Designers upload their t-shirt designs to the website, where visitors and members of the community score them on a scale of 0 to 5. On average, around 700 designs compete in any given week. Each week, the staff selects six designs. Each designer selected receives $2,000 in cash, as well as an additional $500 for every reprint

n the open source community, a Threadless t-shirt or design is considered to be crowd sourced because the designer and the company retain all rights to the design. As the "source" of a design—i.e., its vector graphics file—is not available for download, it cannot be considered "open source". Threadless shirts are run in limited batches. When shirts are sold out, customers can request a reprint. However, reprinting occurs only when there is enough demand, and the decision to reprint is ultimately up to company. New shirts are released on Mondays.