A look at the cutting edge academic research in open innovation and crowdsourcing

2. Disruptive technologies, at their core, threaten
our identities. But, they may also lead us to
powerful solutions that we need.

3. WhatWe're Learning at
the Laboratory of
Innovation Science at
Harvard

4. What is the Laboratory for
Innovation Science at Harvard
(LISH)?
LISH is spurring the development of the
“science of innovation” through a systematic
program of solving real-world innovation
challenges, while simultaneously conducting
rigorous field-based social science research.

5. Areas of Application
Data Science & AI
Development
Crowdsourcing &
Open Innovation
Science of Science &
R&D Organizations
Technology
Translation
Open Source Software
Initiative
Business of Sports

6. The Crowd Academy
Details:
The two-day workshop on crowdsourcing drew
80+ practitioners to HBS
• It was the first time that organizations,
platforms and academics gathered to
discuss crowdsourcing and open
innovation
• Event curriculum was piloted for an online
crowdsourcing course
• An Innovation Science Guide was launched
following the workshop
Coming next:
Crowd Platforms meeting in Nov 2018
A practitioner crowdsourcing network

7. Lessons learned…
Better, Faster, Cheaper - Open tools, like crowdsourcing, are better, faster and cheaper than
traditional ways of solving problems.
Culture First - Cultural barriers inside an organization get in the way of change.
Consistent Knowledge -There is a need for consistent knowledge, research and models for the
demand-side (organizations), supply-side (platforms) and freelancers (digitally enabled,
independent workers).
Common Language -The first priority to facilitate more adoption is to create common language
that everyone in the industry uses.
Fear of Adoption -The use of terms like “innovation,” “transformation,” and “disruption” can be
scary. Instead, talk about enabling internal teams to get more and better work done.
Platform Best Practices - Platforms that offer crowdsourcing must offer consistent practices that
organizations can understand and trust.
Internal Hubs -The emergence of a model for organizational adoption = how to create an internal
hub to support efforts.

8. Open Assembly
• Born out of LISH, to co-create the future of work.
• We are the resource for organizations, platforms and workers to
make a smooth transition to the future of work through content.
• We offer research (based on LISH’s academic work), connections,
consulting and community.

9. Open Assembly
Launched a New
Publication
We partnered withTopcoder on
our first issue.

10. A Collaborative Effort:

11. Insights from Our First Issue:
SHIFT IN MINDSET
• Adopting open strategies like crowdsourcing represent a shift in the mindset and philosophy of how we think of work.
DIGITAL CAPABILITY REDEFINES HOW WE WORK
• Digital capability is at the core of this shift to open strategies and continues to redefine what’s possible; how we work,
how we think of work, and what we achieve.
EARLY STAGES OF LEARNING/NEED TO FIND COMMON LANGUAGE
• Those adopting open strategies like crowdsourcing are at the early stages of learning and have not yet defined common
language. Defining common terms will make exchange of information, understanding, and adoption of strategies easier.
CULTURE FIRST, ALWAYS
• An organization must understand and address issues related to culture first, before it can successfully adopt new
methodologies.
TALENT MIGRATING TO FREELANCE
• Talent is moving to the gig economy, that’s where organizations will need to go to find the talent they seek.
ALMOST ANYTHING CAN BE CROWDSOURCED

12. The Human Cloud
This is
the Future of Work

13. 2019 OAQ Themes
Winter 2019: Co-Creating the Future of Work
What does the future of work look like and how are we building it with today’s open strategies?
Spring 2019: Building a Support Hub
Tools, insights, and inspiration for organizations to build and scale a program.
Summer 2019: Platform Best Practices
Best practices to be a successful platform or to be successful working with a platform.
Fall 2019: The Gig Worker
A deep dive inside the insights, lifestyle, motivators, and future of the freelance economy.
OAQ Annual: The year’s best crowdsourcing case studies
Annual issue that highlights the stories behind the top case studies of the year.

14. Upcoming

15. The
Beginning of
the Collective
We Want to
Raise the Tide

16. LISH: Continuing Academic Research
1. Scaling Centers of Excellence through Open Innovation: Examples
from the Industry
2. The Economics of Scalable Open Innovation: Cost Savings and
Value Generation at NASA
3. Deloitte Pixel - HBS Case Study
4. GE Genius Link - HBS Case Study

17. Never Let a Good
Disruption go to Waste