Is collaborative innovation a new concept?  Is it a by-product of the rise of modern computer aided systems for product development?  Of course, it's not a new idea at all.  Throughout recorded history, it has been shown that an explosion in innovation occurs when ideas are shared and debated in an open forum, then advanced incrementally due to the perspectives of people that have different areas of expertise, different points of view on the practical applications, and different interpretations of the scientific principles involved.   Witness the discoveries of the ancient Greeks in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, for instance.  Or the establishment of the library in Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd century BC.  The amount of intellectual capital in close physical proximity enabled the great scientific, mathematical and engineering advancements of the era.

In more recent times, Thomas Edison, the prolific American inventor, established his Menlo Park, NJ laboratory in 1876, and over the next 5 years produced the most concentrated outpouring of invention in history.   In a 2003 publication of the Ivey Business Journal, it is noted that the key to Edison's success was technology brokering.  Technology brokering requires two key strengths.  The first is the ability to bridge distant communities, that is, to move easily across a range of industries and markets to be in a better position to see how the technologies of one market can be used in new ways to solve problems in another.   The second strength is the ability to build new communities around those innovative recombinations.  Edison was a master at building new networks around emerging ideas.

Today, however, we have tools that enable Collaborative Innovation to flourish without the need for physical co-location.  No longer are we bound by distance, or even language, as we move ideas forward via a network of global innovators.  With a vision to be able to rapidly assemble the right innovators in the right (virtual) place at the right time, we are well on our way to replicating what we've always known as the best way to foster new discoveries.  With this community, we want to bring out the Edison in you!