The encyclopedia · R&D & Science · Strategic decision · 2004–2010
InnoCentive broadcast hard R&D problems to strangers and outsiders solved them
InnoCentive posted unsolved chemistry and engineering problems with cash prizes; analysis of 166 challenges found the best solvers were marginal to the field.
InnoCentive
The solution
R&D labs hit problems their own experts can't crack. InnoCentive's model broadcasts those problems openly to a global solver pool with a cash prize and blind review.
Researchers analyzing 166 science challenges involving 12,000+ scientists found a striking pattern: technical and social marginality predicted success — the farther a solver's expertise from the problem's field, the more likely the winning solution.
The mechanism works through self-selection: outsiders opt in exactly when their different perspective gives them an edge, and anonymity in review keeps reputation politics out of the decision.
Why it worked
- Outsiders don't share the field's blind assumptions.
- Self-selection recruits solvers who believe they can win.
- Prizes pay for results, not effort.
- Blind review focuses the decision on the solution itself.
What can be applied
When your experts are stuck, the person who solves it may be the one who never learned the field's assumptions — so broadcast the problem beyond the discipline.
Aftermath
InnoCentive became the archetype of 'broadcast search' open innovation, and the marginality finding shaped how firms design open problem-solving contests.
Sources
- Getting Unusual Suspects to Solve R&D Puzzles
- Marginality and Problem-Solving Effectiveness in Broadcast Search
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