InnoCentive and Scientific American Partner to Facilitate Open Innovation

WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- InnoCentive, Inc., the global leader in open innovation, crowdsourcing, and prize competitions, and Scientific American, the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media, today announced a partnership for the Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion, an online hub where science enthusiasts will be able to help solve global scientific problems. Scheduled to go live in the Spring of 2013, the Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion will be hosted jointly on InnoCentive.com and ScientificAmerican.com.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120711/NE38133LOGO )

Commercial organizations, government agencies, and non-profits (known as 'Seekers') will be able to post 'Challenges' on the Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion. These Challenges are well-articulated descriptions of scientific and technical problems that require innovative solutions. The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion provides these Seekers with unprecedented access to a global pool of problem Solvers, including InnoCentive's existing 275,000-person-strong Solver network and Scientific American's audience of nearly 5 million monthly visitors to ScientificAmerican.com.  

"We are very excited by this opportunity to collaborate and partner with Scientific American, an organization with an impeccable reputation and impressive audience," said Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive. "Our alliance will offer Scientific American readers an impressive array of challenging science, technical, and policy problems to work on, while enabling our clients to extend the reach of their Challenges to many more of the world's smartest and most creative people."

"Science is a wellspring of innovation that can help make the world a better place," said Mariette DiChristina, Editor in Chief of Scientific American. "The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion will give our readership an opportunity to apply their practical knowledge to tackle global problems."

This partnership also marks the growth of InnoCentive's collaboration with Nature Publishing Group (NPG), Scientific American's parent organization. In June 2009, InnoCentive and NPG launched the nature.com Open Innovation Pavilion, which is hosted on InnoCentive.com and nature.com, www.nature.com/openinnovation.

"We are pleased to be growing our relationship with InnoCentive in this way," said Peter Collins, Business Intelligence Unit Director of NPG. "The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion is a wonderful addition as it will host a broad range of Challenges that will be of interest to the general public, as well as scientists."

The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion is one of several Scientific American initiatives that center around solving real-life science challenges. Since May 2011, the magazine has actively promoted citizen science projects at http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science. In 2012, Scientific American launched the Science in Action Award, powered by the Google Science Fair, which recognizes a project by young scientists that addresses a social, environmental or health issue to make a practical difference in the lives of a community.

About Scientific American

Scientific American is at the heart of Nature Publishing Group's consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public. Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S. and the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and 14 local language editions around the world it reaches more than 5 million consumers and scientists. Other titles include Scientific American Mind and Spektrum der Wissenschaft in Germany. Scientific American won a 2011 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. For more information, please visit www.scientificamerican.com.

About InnoCentive

InnoCentive is the global leader in crowdsourcing innovation problems to the world's smartest people who compete to provide ideas and solutions to important business, social, policy, scientific, and technical challenges. Our global network of millions of problem solvers, proven challenge methodology, and cloud-based technology combine to help our clients transform their economics of innovation through rapid solution delivery and the development of sustainable open innovation programs. For more than a decade, leading commercial, government, and nonprofit organizations such as AARP Foundation, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cleveland Clinic, Eli Lilly & Company, EMC Corporation, NASA, Nature Publishing Group, Procter & Gamble, Syngenta, The Economist, and The Rockefeller Foundation have partnered with InnoCentive to rapidly generate innovative new ideas and solve problems faster, more cost effectively, and with less risk than ever before. For more information, visit www.innocentive.com, email [email protected], or call 1-855-CROWDNOW (U.S.) or +44 (0) 207 935 0827 (International).

Media Contacts:

Steve Bonadio
InnoCentive, Inc.
978-482-3300
[email protected]

Marisa Borgasano
Schwartz MSL for InnoCentive
781-684-0770   
[email protected]

Rachel Scheer (Corporate Public Relations)
Nature Publishing Group
212-451-8569
[email protected]

SOURCE InnoCentive, Inc.