CLEVELAND, May 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- From sustainable energy solutions to space habitation, the world is crying out for innovators to tackle tough problems, advance new discoveries, and make life better for all. Today, innovation company NineSigma announced that it has galvanized the world's leading organizations and experts to navigate these challenges together, and literally change the world.
NineSigma is empowering organizations from NASA to GE to lead the charge as global citizens and utilize proven Open Innovation (OI) strategies to accelerate problem-solving. At the same time, the company is enabling innovators, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, universities and research labs, to earn prize money, achieve visibility for their solutions, and create new channels to further their work.
"There is nothing more rewarding than empowering an organization to propel its growth, lead its industry, and deliver breakthroughs that improve lives," said Dr. Andy Zynga, CEO of NineSigma.
Since January 2015, NineSigma has managed 19 prize-based innovation challenges associated with more than $25 million in prize money.
One of those challenges was for PKN ORLEN, the leading petroleum and petrochemical group in Central Europe, to identify concepts to increase the energy efficiency of production processes at their refinery. In a press release issued by the company, President of the Management Board of PKN ORLEN Wojciech Jasiński said, "The level of interest in the contest shown by innovators from all over the world as well as the high quality of the proposed solutions went beyond our expectations and confirmed that crowdsourcing is an effective tool to quickly obtain innovations."
The Solution Provider community is equally excited about being at the forefront of technological advancement and using OI to grow their business and strengthen their impact. For example, David Espinosa of Spain, a consultant in energy, industry and mining for the public sector, and David Orlebeke of Aronax Technologies Group LLC, USA were winners of the NASA Tournament Lab In-Situ Challenge—helping to advance exploration, construction and human habitation in space. Espinosa, who has been participating in NASA challenges since 2010, believed that the cold spray technology he'd proposed for a different purpose would be applicable, and this has expanded the uses for his initial work. "Probably the greatest reward, whether I won or not, would be knowing that I could possibly make a contribution to space exploration," he said.
NineSigma's online OI platform, NineSights.com, is the hub of this collaborative innovation activity, bringing solution providers and challenge sponsors together. The solutions being sought range from non-intrusive inspection technologies to nutritional aquaculture feed replacements. Current challenges open to submissions include:
- GE HealthyCities Leadership Challenge
- NextEnergy NextChallenge: Smart Cities
- Statoil Inspection Contest
- GE Unimpossible Missions
- Corning and OLEDWorks Lighting Without a Bulb Contest
- CooperVision Science and Technology Award Program
- DFAT/InnovationXchange, WWF, ConservationXLabs and SecondMuse Blue Economy Challenge 2016
Get ready to change the world! Solution providers who want to propel their research into the marketplace, advance their businesses, and make a lasting impact are invited to explore these challenges and more at www.NineSights.com.
About NineSigma
NineSigma connects organizations with external innovation resources to accelerate innovation in private, public and social sectors. NineSigma has the largest open global network of solution providers and an extensive database of existing solutions spanning numerous industries and technical disciplines. In 2015, the company was again named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America. Learn more at www.ninesigma.com or www.ninesights.com.
Contact: Dawn Ringel, [email protected], 781-449-8456
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SOURCE NineSigma
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