Over an intense 76 hours in late July, IT company IBM hosted a global brainstorming session involving 53 000 participants, more than 67 companies and 37 000 online posts.
The focus of the session was innovation - but more than simple invention and idea generation. IBM was looking to identify new market opportunities and create solutions that advance business and society.
Inspired by the concept of musical jamming, where musicians have the opportunity to pursue trains of thought or hop from idea to idea, IBM has used this global brainstorming concept several times in the past.
The InnovationJam was structured around four key areas:
- Going Places. Moving more and more people and possessions around the planet creates congestion, pressure on energy resources and exposure to security risks. How can we transform the way we move around the world?
- Staying Healthy. While the science of human health is advancing every day, old diseases, once considered dormant, re-emerge, and new ones threaten to become pandemics. At the same time national health-care systems become more expensive yet more creaky. What are the solutions to modern health problems?
- Finance & Commerce. Just about anything, from groceries to property on the other side of the world, can be acquired online these days. The global, online nature of business means that while global trade is possible, so is global competition. In fact your competitor could be a student operating from a bedroom on the other side of the world. How can companies keep up and manage the transactions while serving the customer better?
- A Better Planet. The planet's resources are being stretched to the limit, and the strain is beginning to show. How can we manage these resources in a way that benefits humans and the world?
The thousands of suggestions that emerged from this first phase of the InnovationJam are now being refined. A second session is planned for mid-September to distil the best of these ideas into something that can be acted on. IBM believes so firmly in this initiative that it has committed up to US$100m in development funding for the best ideas that emerge.
