Ben Kaufman might just be on to something. His new company, Kluster, aims to leverage the network to connect ideas, projects, and people in collective collaboration for innovation. Innovation for users and for corporate, I think? The Business Week article about Kaufman intimates that he has corporate clients lined up to prototype the technology behind Kluster, but no names are given. The technology is an algorithm that allows users to rank concepts and projects and either participate in them or not. Projects are either ‘backed-projects’ (presumably backed by companies) or ‘bootstrapped projects,’ in which the participants become owners through the trading of Kluster’s currency, Watts.
It might sound a bit campy and young, at first, and this may be because Kaufman is only 21 years old. But don’t dismiss too soon. Proctor and Gamble’s Connect & Develop Program already does something similar, though not through the use of a ranking algorithm or monopoly-like money. Rather, P&G periodically posts areas in which it seeks innovative products or ideas, and allows university researchers or independent designers to submit concepts and projects for consideration. Connect & Develop has pioneered a kind of ‘open-source’ model for corporate innovation, a model that Kluster is experimenting with here as well. Furthermore, he has his own panel this week at TED, so Kaufman will have no shortage of coverage or opportunity to make his case.
If such an innovation kluster bomb really goes off across the corporate landscape, those pot bellied guys in R&D might just be the next node targeted for elimination on the recently implemented BPR system.
The Butcher
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