Wired magazine recently explored a newly named value-exchange phenomenon called “crowdsourcing.” It is a mixture of “the wisdom of crowds” and outsourcing. On the one hand, the business model requires a large, talented labor pool to tap into and on the other, the ability to foster a genuine, potentially long-term business relationship.
For instance, one company discussed is iStockPhoto which helps introduce free-lance photographers with savings-minded clients. The result is that photo’s which used to cost thousands of dollars to purchase from professional boutiques now cost less than $40. Why? As the article suggests, because the products the professionals once specialized in are simply not scarce.
While this seemingly new model was not designed from the top-down to replace inefficient patent-ridden industries, it has the side-effect of illustrating how firms could potentially profit off of innovations without the need for State intervention in the form of “intellectual property.”
In fact, arguably the need for building and maintaining relatively expensive research facilities to patent anything and everything diminishes when every Tom, Dick and Harry with a garage can get a piece of the action. Such is the case of InnoCentive, which matches companies such as Boeing and DuPont with independent outsiders for pennies on the dollar.
See also scriptlance and e-lance.
Thanks to DJC for the link.
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Thanks for a beautiful post, and the beautiful idea of a world without UP (unnatural property) laws constraining the use of non-scarce resources. Appreciate the reference, I’ll have to read Wired more!
In the April 10th edition of Forbes magazine, there is a GE sponsored centerfold speaking to the innovation(s) of Mark Spencer, son of 2 Auburn University professors.
Seems that he brought “open-source” to the phone-networld via his product called Asterisk.
Knowing that vMI is based in Auburn, is there a reason not to give Spencer a ring?
Marc Spencer was also one of the original developers of Gaim (http://gaim.sf.net), a very popular multi-protocol IM program.
I thought you wrote “Marc Specter” at first. Was thinking Moon Knight wrote Asterisk?
What, “Person” is skipping an Intellectual Property article?
About Asterisk, there’s an important aspect that needs to be considered. If I wanted a perfectly legal copy of Asterisk, all I would have to do is type:
Ain’t that a hoot! In fact I did it for a little while as an experiment, but decided to wait until I afforded myself a POTS card so I could the standard household wiring for phone handsets. I don’t want to be tied to a headset connected to a computer just to make a phone call.
Since Asterisk is a SIP-compliant server, you can use it to connect to SIP service providers and eliminate your local telephone service all together. So much for the mandated monopoly status of the “last mile of copper”!!!
SIP is a fantastically disruptive technology. Designed to be very similar to the HTML / XML that has literally changed the world.
Hello, I’m the founder of a new crowdsourcing company which aims to design new innovative electronic products. This can be a revolution on the manufacturing industry. A well experienced team is already working on that project which is getting a lot of sponsor. Look at the blog to get further details : http://cecrowdsourcing.blogspot.com/. Bookmark this address as we have scheduled to launch an official website by the mid of october for joining this promising community.
The finance industry does not enjoy patents or ip.
Check this website out:
http://www.ft.com/markets/wizardry
There are a few articles about how innovation takes place in the financial industry.
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