Solutions In Search Of Problems

aj — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:19:38 GMT

I'm an unapologetic Doug Hall fan. For just one reason why, check out this previous MFGx post.

I'm also a fan because he's a creative inventor, honest to a fault, rabidly passionate about manufacturing, and he is anything but afraid to get in your grill and challenge a concept until it's proven correct - or not.

His latest invention - Planet Eureka (named after his famous Eureka Ranch in Ohio) - is an "innovation marketplace" that's less original in its concept, but more so in its approach.

Most innovation marketplaces connect companies or organizations looking for creative solutions with those that can provide them - scientists, engineers, and other technologists and professionals. Here, it takes two to tango in a common formula - "seekers" looking for "providers."

But the Planet Eureka (PE) model is different in that "Providers" (inventors, companies, and entrepreneurs) post their solutions and the "Seekers" engage based on their needs.

What's so cool about the PE model is it looks to protect the provider in the process via Access, Translation and Valuation.

Like its other innovation brethren, PE offers access to inventors or companies - they ALL do that, pretty much. But PE also provides translation of inventors' ideas into language that businesses can easily understand. PE also provides advanced valuation services that help both parties realize the solution's commercial potential.

For any manufacturer with advanced capabilities or processes, this model and its counterparts offer opportunity and inspiration.

Leave it to Doug Hall to turn the tables and shake things up.

Other Innovation Marketplaces:

InnoCentive

Innovation Exchange

NineSigma

Props: Innovation Marketplace Helps People With Good Ideas Find Problems from Marianne Kolbasuk McGee @ Information Week

MFGx Blog

Solutions In Search Of Problems