Guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison
Our Trademarks Team is leading efforts to meet the continually changing intellectual property environment – by updating our IT systems, developing educational outreach programs, improving the accuracy and integrity of the trademark register, and ensuring that our trademark fees are fair and that they reflect the full cost of our services and products. It is our ongoing commitment to ensure accountability and to guarantee customer satisfaction.
UC Berkeley announced Tuesday the launch of a new crowdsourcing website intended to gather ideas on raising its revenue from the campus community.
Due to its current annual budget deficit of $150 million, UC Berkeley has been seeking out innovative revenue solutions and cost-cutting measures. William Rohrer — a community engagement specialist in the Office of New Revenue Initiatives that was created about two months ago by the vice chancellor for administration and finance — spearheaded the development of the crowdsourcing site, called Ideaction, and said the students, staff, faculty and alumni of UC Berkeley had valuable ideas to offer.
Organizer LeRoy Kopp, who owns a local healthy food store, says the Stackpole-Hall Foundation recently did a survey called IdeaScale that identified community gardens as a number one project for Elk County.
How do you harness the power of ideas, and let companies explore potential they may not even know exists? Enter IdeaScale.
CEO Rob Hoehn describes IdeaScale as an “innovation management platform." Organizations use the software to run crowdsourcing campaigns among employees, customers, partners and citizens to find out which ideas those groups think will help an organization evolve and stay relevant. Hoehn founded IdeaScale in 2009 with Vivek Bhaskaran.
Innovation experts and consultants come in two flavors: linear and messy. The linear, analytical ones tell us that innovation happens in a step-wise, predictable way e.g., the seven stages of innovation.
If you are reading this article, chances are you have taken an Uber, are familiar with Upwork and maybe even sold something on Etsy. Business models that fall under the “gig economy” umbrella have been proven for business-to-consumer and peer-to-peer markets because they make it possible to crowdsource products and services from huge communities of people.
Civic engagement doesn’t happen by default. Technology can help government leaders reach community members.
The NYPD has identified a cloud-based innovation ideation platform called IdeaScale as a tool that can help call into existence a public that can better act on its own interests.
Too often though, innovation is associated with flashy products and fanciful ideas instead of a mindset of directly responding to client needs or functionality that improves the quality and effectiveness of current products and services.
Innovation is the art of change, and for any change to be successful, you have to empower and engage the people who know your business best. These tools can help you do just that.
