General Electric had an innovative way to come up with innovations related to the emerging "smart" electric grid: the company asked for ideas.
Last July, GE launched what it called an "ecomagination challenge," a competition in which startups and inventors were asked to present technologies that could help GE accelerate its development of products and services related to the smart grid. GE got 4,000 submissions. It gave $100,000 cash awards to five young companies and formed strategic partnerships with 12 others; all of them are expected to help GE's business in one way or another in such areas as energy storage, utility security, energy management software, and electric-vehicle charging services.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Open Innovation at GE - Technology Review
Author: Michael Mascioni
