Going BIG, a different way of generating ideas

Do big ideas need to go big? I learned about a company called BIG, the Big Idea Group, through my innovation class. I won't discuss the case study done in class, it's unethical to share information that's not free. I will tell you what Big does, how, and why it works.



BIG commercializes ideas; they have a network of 13,000+ inventors and problem solvers who feed them ideas. With a small team, they figure out what their clients can use and pay contributors as agreed. They generate ideas, how to execute them, and insight on what the market wants in a cheap manner because most of their network will invent on their free time, they're not employees of BIG and most of them have jobs.

They feed their network problems to solve and a few hundred minds will come up with an answer because they enjoy it. BIG treats inventors well and most of them choose to maintain a long-lasting relationship. If a client needs something that's better, they will search through their database of ideas, inventors, and experts. Then they'll contact their network, and when BIG calls its network answers.

How's this model different? Instead of having a team of experts and engineers, not sharing information with the outside world, and being in-sourced (most large innovative companies like GE, Corning, Apple, Nintendo, etc. keep their projects under wraps) BIGs offering is outsourced (almost open-sourced) and uses anyone who's willing. Unless an idea is used BIG doesn't need to pay whomever generated it, and inventors are willing to share ideas they wouldn't have commercialized anyways.

It's a very different approach and it will surely continue to evolve with the advent of alternative social platforms. If you have a business problem that can be crowd sourced, I suggest you give this model a shot; you might be surprised with what comes out of it.