At the end of last year Innocentive had one of their many competitions for innovative solutions to difficult problems. Innocentive was developed by an Eli Lilly employee as a way to essentially find the essential skills needed to solve difficult problems, mostly in the area of life science.

Keep in mind that Innocentive’s approach is markedly different from a systems like Kluster which engages a collaborative process that depends on their ability to assemble a diverse group. Innocentive relies only on a large pool of potential solvers to get the expertise they need to solve problems. There is no overt collaborative process in Innocentive’s system.

The Rockefeller Foundation has also supported the initiative and has been using it to find solutions to problems for so-called bottom of the pyramid users, primarily around novel technology for basic living situations.

I submitted a solution to the problem of viral marketing for the purpose of building users of these resources. Because I believe strongly in the ability of diverse groups to engage in creative problem solving (perhaps because of my formative involvement in Future Problem Solvers), I crafted a proposal that I thought might be a difference for them. For these ideas, I drew on the work of Scott Page and Ronald Burt. I share the text of the proposal here:

Many people have the expertise to solve difficult problems, yet they and the organizations that seek their skills lack the ability to sense these opportunities. This is the core service that Innocentive provides. By transforming human capital into social capital, Innocentive can increase its brand awareness and turn post-niche strategy into new market segments. Here are six heuristics:

1. Transform human capital into social capital. This means engaging the contradictions of diverse constituents. For difficult problems, diversity trumps ability (Page 2006). Some (but not all) of Innocentive’s clients and problems require diversity to solve key problems. Find ways for people with alternative expertise to contribute to the problems at hand. Diversity creates opportunities to broaden Innocentive’s solver base.

Innocentive’s current strategy revolves around commercial enterprises, state and local governments, and not-for-profit entities. Why not engage individuals that represent constituencies beyond these boundaries? These solvers could come from all walks of life, not just “highly qualified and creative Solvers recruited from the best research and educational institutions.”

Viral marketing encourages people to pass along a message voluntarily. This need not depend on any particular medium like video or games. Providing ways for people to enhance their own opportunities and leverage their own expertise will transmit the message. Google’s blank page provided enormous opportunity in this respect.

2. Provide social capital solutions for individuals and organizations. Creative problem solving, opportunity sensing, and implementation all rely on the ability of an organization or individual to access social capital. Without clear way to build and leverage social capital they are limited in their opportunities. Innocentive is poised to provide mechanism for individuals and organization to access and assemble diverse social capital with minimal obstacles. For an individual or a small organization, this can provide significant value.

3. Provide social captial solutions for Innocentive by providing ways for individuals to exploit their own existing social capital. For example, many individuals are already seeking solutions to their own problems via their social network. This is cumbersome in some respects and could be improved greatly using Innocentive’s model. With Innocentive providing this free service, individuals can then turn to Innocentive when no opportunity is found within their personal social network. Innocentive becomes the solution. “Innocentive helped me find a solution so maybe they can help me now.” Partnering with a social networking service (especially LinkedIn; see #6) can provide the social networking capabilities while Innocentive provides the opportunities and arrangements.

4. Create microtransactions for bottom-of-the-pyramid expertise. People already have skills. Sometimes someone just needs a simple piece of code written and doesn’t have the skills or someone in their network that can do it. While this may seem overly simple for some, for others it may as well amount to curing cancer. Allowing individuals and organizations the opportunity to offer everyday problems will make up in volume for what it may loose in overall value. Even if a task is small, there are many that could solve it and possibly add to the social capital of Innocentive.

5. Identify network-entrepreneurs. These are individuals that position themselves as hubs within social networks (Burt 2005). They tend to identify opportunities and create social capital. They also have the ability to identify potential problems that could be served by Solvers. Identifying network entrepreneurs may take work, but they tend to use positive and negative words to express ideas, use more words to express ideas, have greater number of days between key contacts, have outstanding evaluations, and have job descriptions other than those commonly listed.

6. Identify and work with a strategic partner. LinkedIn would be an excellent choice. Given their large social network size, emphasis on business and opportunity contacts, and upcoming API availability, they could possibly provide the network through which to leverage the above heuristics. Other partners could be identified as well, but they should provide insight and opportunity that Innocentive does not currently have. Diversity should be the first goal.