Using Open Source to Solve Business Problems

When your business is confronted with an intractable problem, where do you turn to solve it? Lob it over the wall to R&D? Bring in the consultants?

Your best solution might be to present your problem to a network of smart strangers that attack it from their experience in multiple disciplines. That's the basic idea behind InnoCentive, which was profiled this week by the New York Times in the story, If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone.

The article offers a prime example of how open source innovation works. An Alaskan oil spill recovery program was interested in ideas for keeping oil in storage tanks from freezing. The winning idea, via InnoCentive, came from a man whose neighbor had shown him that vibrating concrete prevents it from setting up too quickly. John Davis walked away with $20,000 for his solution.

Indeed, InnoCentive has shown in the 250 challenges it has solved that "the further the problem was from the solver's expertise, the more likely they were to solve it," according to Harvard Business School assistant professor Karim Lakhani, who has studied InnoCentive extensively and is an expert on collaborative innovation.

Read this interview with Lakhani on HBS Working Knowledge for more information on how companies are using open source solutions to solve problems.

Have you found answers to problems in unexpected places? Share your experience.