Tinkerers like Edison and the lesser known scientist & inventor Joseph Priestly - the first man to isolate oxygen - understood the value of attempts. One of Edison's more famous quotes, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." sums up his conviction that experimentation and perseverance are paramount to innovative success. In Priestly's day - around the time of the American Revolution - coffee houses supplied the patrons with both the chemical (caffeine) & intellectual (collaborative minds) enhancements allowing for ideas to be spread, repurposed and brought to market, thus creating real world value. Today, caffeine is still rampant and obviously more accessible than ever, but it's the other, the access to challenges, the ability to collaborate and iterate with thousands of participants via virtual communities that has of course been the phenomenal game-changer. Edison and Priestly understood that experimentation, and therefore the acceptance of failure in order to succeed, was part of the creative process. Today, global corporations and government agencies also understand this need to experiment, the need to attempt the "never been tried" and they are turning to Open Innovation Platforms such as Innocentive and TopCoder to take their innovative swings.
To read the full, original article click on this link: 3 Reasons an Open Innovation Platform is an Exceptional Way to Experiment
