Open innovation and Idea Exchange - how it works

Mohan Babu writes about the reality of open innovation in the Indian context with some concrete examples, the concept is simple:

The model behind such global exchanges is simple: Companies or R&D groups post their problems on online Idea Exchanges and invite solutions from a pre-qualified global pool of candidates or companies. In return for a verifiable solution, the solver gets a substantial monetary reward.

The opportunities for distributed participation are huge, but the reuse of this model in the broader IS community, based around solutions to well known problems provides another angle on innovation. Innovation through replication of best practice or evolution of best practice. It provides a means to allow tech laggards to benefit from each other by sharing their experiences of technology adoption. The experiences then mould the predominant usage patterns for the laggards. Some input form the early adaptors would be of value, it may even be worth paying for, but the real value would come in the shared solution; buying power, known issues, known limitations, complementary vertical processes and systems.