This is a guest post written by Dr. Benjamin Missbach (benjamin.missbach@lbg.ac.at), Project Manager at the Open Innovation in Science Center (Vienna, Austria) and a driving force behind the “Tell Us!” project.

People suffer accidents, right? In fact, many people around the world have many accidents, and, thankfully, there have been people developing and innovating in the field of ‘traumatology’ in recent decades. Not least, Austria has a great tradition of revolutionising the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of accident patients (e.g., most famously on the part of Austrian physician and surgeon Dr. Lorenz Böhler).

Now, the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft (LBG) Center is taking another shot at revolutionising the field and systematically opening up the discipline by involving expert and patient crowds to contribute research questions that will bring innovation to the scientific discourse. We know there is quite a lot of value in the crowds’ knowledge — this goes beyond analysing data. Think of one of the hardest tasks scientists have in their day-to-day work: formulating research questions! Can anyone without explicit scientific background formulate innovative research questions?

‘Tell us!” is tackling exactly this challenge and calling for questions that experts and patients might have when dealing with accidental injuries: “What questions on accidental injuries does research need to address?” This crowdsourcing-in-reverse approach is at the core of the Austrian research organisation and was brought to life by the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center established in 2017. The overall goal is to spark new research in interdisciplinary research groups that will then tackle the most innovative research questions. From May 8th to August 31st, 2018, experts and patients around the world have an opportunity to contribute their questions on accidental injuries, with submissions already coming in from Pakistan, Australia, and the United States. To create still more buzz around ‘Tell us!’, support this project, spread the word or submit a research question. Broken bone, anyone?!