Innovation intelligence: Crowdsourcing in a social network

Our paper looks at the way innovation problems, solutions and trends are freely reflected in collective intelligence available in global initiatives and social networks. Social networks and global initiatives building on free contributions with high visibility have emerged as alternative solutions to grasp and integrate knowledge all over the world. We aim to identify types of contribution and possible effects onto organisational innovation. Our paper uses a grounded-theory approach, building from data available online, in two LinkedIn innovation groups where the author is a full member (related to Open Innovation). The main outcomes of our paper reside in better understanding the role that can be played in innovation by no-cost collective initiatives open to worldwide contributors, the type of contributors and contribution that appear in those initiatives. © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.