Problem-solvers rewarded in novel search for researchersINDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- In the Old West, town sheriffs offered bounties, enticing the public with cash in an attempt to get train robbers and cattle rustlers in their clutches.
On today's industrial science frontier, the bounty is back, with a twist that is rendering the WANTED poster obsolete.
Research-dependent companies are offering the rewards, enlisting the world's scientists to supplement their in-house research and development.
Their quarry: solutions to problems that have stumped their best scientific minds and stand in the way of getting new products to market or refining manufacturing processes.
The vehicle is a year-old venture of Indianapolis-based drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. that lets the companies post scientific problems on the Internet.
Solution-seeking companies pay fees to Lilly's venture, InnoCentive Inc., promising cash awards to bounty hunters -- regardless of their location or credentials -- who come up with workable solutions.
Chemistry and cashMichael Cash, a University of Georgia graduate student aspiring to a research chemistry career, learned about InnoCentive through an advertisement in a chemical engineering magazine.
After studying a chemistry problem on
www.innocentive.com, Cash and research adviser Robert Phillips devised a paper chemistry solution -- documented, but without the lab work needed to back it up and boost their potential award money.
They followed up in the lab, and beat a deadline to turn in their work for evaluation against competing proposals.
"Since I knew a little about the chemistry, most of the motivation came from the realization that I could potentially solve the challenge," Cash, 27, said. "The possibility of a monetary reward made the quest even more enticing." The resulting $30,000 award is being divided among the university, Phillips, and Cash.
Since last summer, 10,000 "solvers" like Cash have registered online to submit solutions to more than 50 challenges, with $350,000 paid out so far for 14 solutions.
The scientific community is still learning about InnoCentive's approach, which the company says is patented and which groups including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemistry Association say they believe to be unique.
Taking a risk and tackling challengesThe approach carries risks in an arena where intellectual property and patents are closely guarded. For example, posting details on the Internet about a company's scientific stumbling blocks could tip a competitor to a company's plans.
"I'm not going to tell you the risk is zero," said Alpheus Bingham, InnoCentive's board chairman and a Lilly executive who helped create the venture. "But there are some ways we manage that risk."
Solvers electronically consent to surrender property rights. And they don't know which company they're solving a problem for, since InnoCentive keeps that confidential.
Solvers take chances in deciding to tackle challenges. Werner Mueller won a $25,000 award for a solution last fall after three months of work. When he spent another three months on a new problem, he came up short.
"It's easier if you don't need tomorrow's paycheck," said Mueller, a 63-year-old semi-retired chemist from Charlotte, North Carolina. "It's a good deal for me, if I have the time and the project fits my knowledge."
InnoCentive recently announced the recruitment of its first "Fortune 100" company, a business looking for speed and innovation in its R&D product pipeline. But true to its emphasis on privacy, InnoCentive would not disclose the company's name.
It's no secret that Lilly is behind most of the challenges on InnoCentive's Web site. The drug maker created InnoCentive last year to supplement its 7,600-person R&D operations. A venture capital arm of Lilly, e.Lilly, invested an undisclosed amount in InnoCentive covering at least two years' operations.
InnoCentive was conceived by Bingham and a colleague, who borrowed an old idea to address rising pharmaceutical research and development costs. It started in Indianapolis and has since moved to a high-tech corridor in the Boston suburb of Andover.
Calling out around the globeThe venture's marketing increasingly targets India and China, nations with a wealth of scientific talent and comparatively meager pay.
The highest payout for a solution went to a research lab in India, Glenmark Research Centre, which won $75,000 -- at least three times the average salary of Indian chemists, InnoCentive said.
Although the majority of InnoCentive's award-winners have so far been from the United States, scientists from more than 100 countries have registered as potential solvers, said the company's chief executive, Darron Carroll.
Bingham has even traveled to China to promote InnoCentive, and a section of its Web site is written in Chinese.
"I do have the ambition that as Lilly grows, this is a way in which to manage that growth and to give us access to a global community of scientists, not just the ones we can recruit to Indiana," Bingham said.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/08/25/scientific.bounties.ap/index.html
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Funny
Their main plan seems to bee taking advantage of cheap foreign science labor. But at least they are paying out money.
Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety
