During the CoDev 2014 conference, I attended a morning session hosted by InnoCentive. The title was “Engaging the Crowd with Custom Challenge Programs” and the panelists included Lisa Inoue (Dow Chemical), Kiko Suarez (Lumina Foundation) and Siobhan Gomis (InnoCentive).
I do not have high expectations for panels, but this one actually turned out to be quite interesting and I managed to tweet some good quotes and insights that I would like to share with you.
Here we go:
1. Why go public w crowdsourcing? = raise the profile of the problem, organization and cause says Gomis #CoDev2014
2. Crowdsourcing / Challenge Programs enable you to engage the broader crowd, ways to share insights, build community Gomis #CoDev2014
3. Compelling way to end a challenge is to connect the solvers in a face-to-face event. Share ideas, pitch on stages, present winners, build on-going relationships Gomis #CoDev2014
4. Wow! Only 4 ppl of 60 in audience have run an innovation challenge! Only 8 expect ro run future challenge. Lots of room for potential! #CoDev2014
5. Dow Chemical runs innovation challenge program to make innovation relevant for markets, need more marketing on innovation efforts – Inoue #CoDev2014
6. Monetize innovation rapidly in a low risk way. Step out of Dow mindset. Need a community to do this. InnoCentive Challenge Program a solution Inoue #CoDev2014
7. If you have not run a challenge, only way to appreciate the power is to do it! Learning experiment, you will get ROI Inoue #CoDev2014
8. Tips on crowdsourcing! Engage high level of cross-functions people in team, keep it simple, know exactly what challenge is, be open Inoue #CoDev2014
In particular, I liked how Gomis gave a short, but sharp introduction to the benefits of crowdsourcing and how Dow Chemical looks at crowdsourcing as not only an innovation tool but also as a communication tool.
