Harnessing the wisdom of the crowd

This follows up on the post below about using networked intelligence to solve complex problems. Our Chief Academic Officer, Vikas Sukhatme, told me about two websites based on this concept.

One is called Innocentive and the other is called Topcoder, the first for inventions of a general nature, the second for software solutions. The idea of formally using the wisdom of the crowd, stimulated by prize money, to solve problems is fascinating and powerful.