How do you harness the power of ideas, and let companies explore potential they may not even know exists? Enter IdeaScale.
CEO Rob Hoehn describes IdeaScale as an “innovation management platform." Organizations use the software to run crowdsourcing campaigns among employees, customers, partners and citizens to find out which ideas those groups think will help an organization evolve and stay relevant. Hoehn founded IdeaScale in 2009 with Vivek Bhaskaran.
Innovation experts and consultants come in two flavors: linear and messy. The linear, analytical ones tell us that innovation happens in a step-wise, predictable way e.g., the seven stages of innovation.
If you are reading this article, chances are you have taken an Uber, are familiar with Upwork and maybe even sold something on Etsy. Business models that fall under the “gig economy” umbrella have been proven for business-to-consumer and peer-to-peer markets because they make it possible to crowdsource products and services from huge communities of people.
Civic engagement doesn’t happen by default. Technology can help government leaders reach community members.
The NYPD has identified a cloud-based innovation ideation platform called IdeaScale as a tool that can help call into existence a public that can better act on its own interests.
Too often though, innovation is associated with flashy products and fanciful ideas instead of a mindset of directly responding to client needs or functionality that improves the quality and effectiveness of current products and services. Innovation is the art of change, and for any change to be successful, you have to empower and engage the people who know your business best. These tools can help you do just that.
Today, the DREAMS Partnership took a stand toward rewriting this tragic but far too common story by issuing a call for innovative ideas as part of the DREAMS Innovation Challenge. The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (one of the Janssen pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson), and ViiV Healthcare committed $85 million for the Challenge to award solutions that infuse new thinking and approaches to give young women the opportunity to live Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored, and Safe lives.
It is rare that a startup can claim the president of the United States among its first clients, but that is the case for IdeaScale
Shortly after co-founders Rob Hoehn and Vivek Bhaskaran hatched the company in Seattle, Barack Obama was elected president. On his first day in office, he promised transparency and called for executive agencies to seek input from the public. Within 100 days, more than 20 federal agencies were running campaigns through IdeaScale, whose founders had a connection to the White House. The president’s SAVE Award, for example, asked federal employees to pitch cost-saving suggestions. The White House implemented the winning ideas, such as a tool-lending library for NASA projects.
“Harlem, we want to hear from you!” That’s the message coming from the 32 Precinct with the launch of their Ideascale page, an online interactive community. If you’ve never heard of Ideascale, think of it as a digital forum that beckons users to share their quality-of-life gripes. Noise complaints? Bring them on. Double-parked cars? We want to know!
