Author Archives: Eugene Ivanov

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About Eugene Ivanov

Eugene Ivanov is a business and technical writer interested in innovation and technology. He focuses on factors defining human creativity and socioeconomic conditions affecting corporate innovation.

Open Innovation = Co-Creation + Crowdsourcing

A good friend of mine Michael Docherty, the founder of the consulting and new ventures firm Venture 2 Inc. (and author of the highly-acclaimed book “Collective Disruption”), was interviewed recently by IdeaConnection’s Paul Arnold. (By way of shameless self-promotion, here … Continue reading

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Crowdsourcing is a “sourcing” not just a “crowd”

As I admitted on one occasion, I hate being a terminology cop. Yet my professional life, both as a bench scientist and innovation manager, provides plenty of examples of a mess that ensues when people start discussing things without first … Continue reading

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We’re long past the stage of asking whether crowdsourcing can do this or that

Recently, I came across an article describing how Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE is engaging its customers in crowdsourcing the design of a new device. I admit that it was the article’s title, not content, that caught my attention: “Can crowdsourcing … Continue reading

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I know you, I know you not. (How we find experts.)

In one of my previous posts I wrote that when facing a problem the majority of organizations have a natural inclination to begin the problem-solving process with engaging experts. Such an approach makes sense when an organization dealt with a … Continue reading

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The first rule of crowdsourcing: know what you want, understand what you need

I like to argue (for example, here) that the most important factor that defines the ultimate success or failure of any crowdsourcing campaign is the ability to properly identify and articulate the problem–technological, business or social–that the crowd will be … Continue reading

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Know your neighbor (The virtues of crowdsourcing)

Before I turn to the virtues of crowdsourcing, let me tell you a story that happened 7-8 years ago. I worked with a client, a statistician in the consumer product field. (To tell this story freely, I changed the industry … Continue reading

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Is crowdsourcing pitting “experts” against “amateurs”?

In my previous post, I argued that one of the reasons crowdsourcing hasn’t yet become a mainstream innovation tool is the uncertainty over what crowdsourcing can (or can’t) do, meaning that many organizations struggle with identifying problems that can be successfully solved by … Continue reading

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Can crowdsourcing fix your marriage problems?

  I think that one of the reasons crowdsourcing hasn’t yet become a mainstream innovation tool is the uncertainty over what crowdsourcing can (or can’t) do. I’m often asked the same question: can crowdsourcing solve this problem; what about that … Continue reading

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What do you need to innovate? Freedom! Yes, freedom.

We love talking about nurturing a culture of innovation; yet, our list of practical measures to promote entrepreneurial spirit is depressingly short. For this reason, I’ve set out to create a list of specific corporate policies that organizations may try in … Continue reading

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Crowdsourcing: two approaches, two different outcomes

In my July 16 post, I set out to prove that crowdsourcing is a very cost-effective tool allowing solving problems at much less cost compared to other innovation tools, and, therefore, the low popularity of crowdsourcing, of which I wrote … Continue reading

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