The first time I heard about the web-based organization called Innocentive was in Don Tapscott's book, Wikinomics. Innocentive is one of the first sites that allows specialists and experts in various fields to apply their expertise to solve problems posted by whatever company needs them solved. On the site these experts are known as "Solvers."
So, for example Acme Technologies has an engineering problem that they haven't been able to solve with their in-house talent. They can now expand that talent pool to include engineers worldwide, and also experts from other fields who may have an innovative solution. The company puts a price on the solution and agrees to pay out to the best solution(s) that is offered.
This means that while you are out of work you can browse the listing of problems that need solving and propose a solution, and if it is accepted, then you get paid. Cool. When I think of the talented Dislocated Workers who have recently been laid off from Boston Scientific and Medtronic I can't help but believe that some can take advantage of this creative idea. Scientific and technical problems predominate because they are the well-structured problems that lend themselves to this kind of effort. But it is not limited to scientists. There are problems listed by educators and non-profits as well.
Browse the site and see what you think. http://www.innocentive.com/
Be a solver.
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