Wise Young
05-05-2003, 12:24 PM
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2003/may/upfront_030505.html
Frontlines | Hired Guns, Science-Style
When you cannot solve a problem, why not pay someone to do it for you? That's the idea behind the worldwide, online R&D collaboration, Innocentive ( www.innocentive.com (http://www.innocentive.com) ). Questioners post their biology, chemistry, or biochemistry 'challenges' on the Web site and interested scientists who figure out a solution earn a reward. Normally, the answer-seekers, who pay a fee, remain anonymous, but some are known. Ali Hussein, Innocentive's vice president of marketing, says that commercial giants such as Eli Lilly and Co., Procter & Gamble, and Syngenta have all posted problems. Answers to questions are posted, but the name of the questioner is kept confidential.
Often, the system connects questioners with scientists who already have the answers in hand. "A pharmaceutical company once asked us if they could post a problem they believed was unsolvable," says Hussein. "Three days later, an answer was submitted by a scientist from Kazakhstan. Without Innocentive, they wouldn't have known about the scientist who had been performing this research for 20 years."
Since the site's inception in 2001, more than 20,000 scientists have registered, so far solving 22 problems. Those involved earned more than $420,000 (US). Rewards have ranged from $2,000 to $75,000. Currently, 150 problems are posted on the site.
Support for the Web site is spreading worldwide; Innocentive has forged associations throughout Asia, including the Russian Academy of Science, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India, and a network of 450 labs in China. "This is changing how R&D is done," says Hussein. "Maybe the magnitude isn't felt throughout the industry yet, but the model works."
--Hal Cohen
Frontlines | Hired Guns, Science-Style
When you cannot solve a problem, why not pay someone to do it for you? That's the idea behind the worldwide, online R&D collaboration, Innocentive ( www.innocentive.com (http://www.innocentive.com) ). Questioners post their biology, chemistry, or biochemistry 'challenges' on the Web site and interested scientists who figure out a solution earn a reward. Normally, the answer-seekers, who pay a fee, remain anonymous, but some are known. Ali Hussein, Innocentive's vice president of marketing, says that commercial giants such as Eli Lilly and Co., Procter & Gamble, and Syngenta have all posted problems. Answers to questions are posted, but the name of the questioner is kept confidential.
Often, the system connects questioners with scientists who already have the answers in hand. "A pharmaceutical company once asked us if they could post a problem they believed was unsolvable," says Hussein. "Three days later, an answer was submitted by a scientist from Kazakhstan. Without Innocentive, they wouldn't have known about the scientist who had been performing this research for 20 years."
Since the site's inception in 2001, more than 20,000 scientists have registered, so far solving 22 problems. Those involved earned more than $420,000 (US). Rewards have ranged from $2,000 to $75,000. Currently, 150 problems are posted on the site.
Support for the Web site is spreading worldwide; Innocentive has forged associations throughout Asia, including the Russian Academy of Science, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India, and a network of 450 labs in China. "This is changing how R&D is done," says Hussein. "Maybe the magnitude isn't felt throughout the industry yet, but the model works."
--Hal Cohen