Igniting grass roots change through Open Innovation

This 'Enterprise 2.0' approach of using Social Media tools like Drupal can be applied to any other government processes the same way, for the same benefits.

Not only is there potential for big 'transformational' projects, like the patent applications, but also Web 2.0 is ideal for automating the large volume of very small process areas too, those that are currently conducted through Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and the like.

Re-engineering the Third Sector

iFOSSF has a social mission to help improve the world through identifying where and how open source systems can help grow the success that social enterprise organizations can and do achieve, and so our initial focus is on non-profit organizations.

Non-profits aren't government departments but they still provide 'social services', and often in collaboration with relevant government agencies and other sectors like academia. It is the 'ecosystem' that is defined by the overlap between these distinct sectors that is our 'sweet spot' focus area for Web 2.0 collaborative technologies.

To help grow more social enterprise success we have identified key process areas like grant applications as potential sources of bottlenecks and hurdles. Starting a social enterprise is a dynamic way for one person to positive change their own circumstances because they do so by helping others, but ironically the process is often overly bureaucratic and expensive for those who need it most.

We will be able to bridge the economic divide when there are pathways out of poverty that are universally accessible and have a zero-cost 'on ramp'.

Examples of process efficiency improvements include developments like the 'Common Grant Application', which consolidates the application process document for many sources of funding into one, so that having completed the document once it can be submitted to all those agreeing to the standard. A great list in the case of Washington. 

Open Innovation Management

Another is 'Fiscal Sponsorship', described in this article and is also a function that reduces this 'friction', enabling entrepreneurs to receive non-profit funding but without the 501(c)3 organization. However this still requires the entrepreneur has the ability to complete this funding business plan, which for a huge number is still too big a hurdle.

Therefore we can identify a prior stage, the first step of innovation: 'From Idea to Business Plan', and provide tools to help build more support for this stage too.

We call this 'Open Innovation Management', which in simple terms means the open source version of Innovation Management, the best practice principle described in this white paper from Salesforce.com, to explain the value of their 'Ideas' product.

This organic prioritizing of information was popularized by sites like Digg and is now being pioneered in the business world by projects like the US PTO described previously, and Innocentive using the same approach for finding R&D solutions. Quite simply it is a formal structure for harnessing brainstorming, with the essential factor being to link it to 'closed loops', so that all ideas are actioned in some way, either discounted or escalated to another level of activity, usually funding and implementation.

For example Salesforce.com link their own Ideas implementation to their Product Development cycles, the most core activity for any organization.