When the answer already exists somewhere else 

From a video by HeroX

Soraya Gadit, the founder and CEO of InoCrowd, believes that many difficult problems do not always need completely new answers. In many cases, the answer may already exist in another industry, another country, or another area of science. The challenge is to find the right person who already understands the problem from a different point of view. This is the main idea behind open innovation, and it is the idea that InoCrowd has built into a practical system.

Soraya first saw this problem while working in pharmaceutical research and development. She noticed that skilled scientists could spend years trying to solve a technical problem, even though similar problems may have already been solved elsewhere. This seemed wasteful and slow. She wondered why there was no simple way to connect organisations with experts around the world who might already have useful knowledge. If social networks could connect friends, families, and professionals, she believed there should also be a way to connect the world’s best scientific and technical minds to solve important problems.

This question led to the creation of InoCrowd. The platform connects organisations that have difficult problems, known as “Seekers”, with a large (>1.5M) global network of experts, known as “Solvers”. These Solvers may come from science, engineering, healthcare, energy, defence, or many other fields. Instead of relying only on their own internal teams, companies can open a problem to people with different experiences. InoCrowd then helps turn those outside ideas into solutions that can actually be used. According to Soraya, this process can often produce answers within 30 to 60 days and at much lower cost than traditional research and development.

One case study shows how powerful this approach can be. For 25 years, a major Portuguese airport had a serious problem: aircraft were losing GPS signals when landing. Engineers studied the issue, and the airport invested time and money, but no clear answer was found. When InoCrowd shared the challenge with its solver network, someone from the defence sector looked at the problem in a different way. This person realised that a nearby ship port radar was causing electromagnetic interference with the aircraft signals. The solution was simple: rotate the radar antenna by 15 degrees. There was no need for expensive new equipment. A problem that had lasted for 25 years was solved because someone from another industry recognised the cause.

This example shows the value of cross-industry knowledge. The airport engineers were not lacking skill. They were simply looking at the problem from within their own field. Someone outside aviation had experience with radar and interference, so they could see something others had missed. Soraya argues that organisations often waste time trying to discover something that has already been discovered somewhere else. Open innovation helps them borrow and adapt existing knowledge instead of starting from zero.

InoCrowd also measures success differently from many innovation platforms. It is not enough to receive many ideas or to match a company with a possible expert. For Soraya, the real measure of success is whether the solution can be implemented. A good idea has little value if the organisation cannot use it. InoCrowd therefore focuses on finding Solvers who can provide practical, realistic solutions. Soraya says this careful process has helped the company achieve a very high implementation success rate.

Another important point Soraya makes is about the cost of doing nothing. Companies often think the main cost is the money spent trying to innovate. She argues that the bigger cost may be the money lost every day while a problem remains unsolved. Delays can slow progress, waste resources, and reduce competitiveness. If open innovation can solve problems faster and more cheaply, then it can change how organisations think about risk and investment.

Soraya also uses the COVID-19 vaccine response as a wider example of open innovation. During the pandemic, governments, universities, research centres, and private companies shared information and worked together at unusual speed. This helped vaccines to be developed far faster than normal. For Soraya, this proves that faster collaboration is possible when people break down silos. She asks why this level of cooperation should only happen during a global emergency.

For Solvers, open innovation can also bring benefits. They may receive prize money, but they can also see their ideas make a real difference in the world. Successful work may lead to future consulting opportunities and long-term relationships with organisations. Overall, the case study shows that open innovation is not just about crowdsourcing ideas. It is about finding practical knowledge wherever it is, applying it in the right place, and solving problems faster by learning from others.

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