100,000 Heads Are Better Than One

The internet widens the market for any business, increasing the pool of buyers and sellers. Operating on that principle, some websites allow major corporations to post anonymous research challenges, inviting free-lance scientists to volunteer solutions. For example, a Canadian engineer earned $25,000 for providing an easier way for one company to move toothpaste ingredients into a tube. The sites – like InnoCentive.com, yet2.com and NineSigma – give companies access to a wide range of research talent, about 40 percent of which is in China and the US. The makers of Pringles wanted to print messages on their potato chips; instead of researching and inventing “ink,” the company found an Italian researcher who offered a printing process for food. Scientists receive pay only if companies accept their e-mail solutions, and the companies often retain rights to any solutions. Analysts debate whether the system promotes or hampers innovation, but all agree that in-house corporate R&D departments could become obsolete. – YaleGlobal