InnoCentive and Cleveland Clinic Collaborate to Solve Healthcare’s Biggest Challenges

InnoCentive is now part of Wazoku

Waltham, Mass., July 12, 2011 InnoCentive, Inc., the pioneer in open innovation and crowdsourcing, today announced a collaboration with the world renowned Cleveland Clinic to advance healthcare research. Central to this relationship is the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Pavilion on InnoCentive’s website, which will house a series of Challenges designed to further medical and healthcare research.

The mission of the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute is to better understand the underlying causes of human diseases and develop new treatments and cures. Through the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Pavilion, InnoCentive and Cleveland Clinic are working together to identify and refine Challenges that align with this core mission to further medical and healthcare research. Each Challenge poses a medical problem or situation where a better, yet unknown, solution could be available for patients. While every Challenge offers a significant monetary award for individuals who submit a winning solution, creative and diverse problem solvers from around the world will be motivated by the opportunity to contribute to the public good.

“As a leading clinical research institution, finding new and better ways to advance medicine is a key mission for us,” said Paul DiCorleto, Ph.D., chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. “We look forward to utilizing the advantages that exist with open innovation.”

Coinciding with the launch of the new pavilion, Cleveland Clinic announced a $30,000 Challenge, “Implantable micro-sensor for displacement and mechanical load,” the first of many that will be posted to the Pavilion. In an effort to advance post-operative healing efficiency by avoiding re-injury complications, Cleveland Clinic is using InnoCentive’s innovation platform to seek ideas for a small sensor device that could report the displacement between a soft tissue and bone. The sensor device should also be biocompatible to remain in the body for a lifetime.

Traditional surgery to repair torn ligaments or tendons relies on sutures to reconnect the soft tissue to the bone. However, since no two people heal at the same rate or with the same quality, it is difficult for doctors to determine if optimal healing has taken place before starting specific rehabilitation or other activities. The Challenge is now open to the public and can be found on the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Pavilion on the InnoCentive website.

“Our partnership with Cleveland Clinic to further medical research and positively impact human health and disease is what we live for here at InnoCentive,” said Dwayne Spradlin, president and CEO, InnoCentive. “As an organization that was built from the ground up to help customers solve problems faster and more cost-effectively through the use of open innovation and crowdsourcing, solving problems that can create meaningful and lasting advances in patient care is truly special.”

About InnoCentive
 

InnoCentive is the open innovation and crowdsourcing pioneer that enables organizations to solve their key problems by connecting them to diverse sources of innovation including employees, customers, partners, and the world’s largest problem solving marketplace. InnoCentive’s proven Challenge Driven Innovation methodology, community of millions of problem Solvers, and cloud-based technology platform combine to fundamentally transform the economics of innovation and R&D through rapid solution delivery and the development of sustainable open innovation programs. Leading commercial, government, and nonprofit organizations such as Eli Lilly, Life Technologies, NASA, nature.com, Popular Science, Procter & Gamble, Roche, Rockefeller Foundation, and The Economist partner with InnoCentive to solve problems and innovate faster and more cost effectively than ever before. For more information, visit www.innocentive.com.