The Rockefeller Foundation to Extend InnoCentive’s On-line, Global Scientific Platform For Technology Solutions to Global Development Problems
New York, NY and Andover, Mass., December 18, 2006 - The Rockefeller Foundation and InnoCentive today announced that the Foundation will create a non-profit area on InnoCentive’s global scientific network, www.innocentive.com, specifically designed to spur science and technology solutions to pressing development problems. The non-profit Rockefeller Foundation area on InnoCentive’s scientific platform will bring to bear the talent of thousands of world-class scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs in solving the most pressing and complex humanitarian challenges posed by non-profit entities selected by the Foundation.
This “open innovation model,” which InnoCentive has pioneered in the “for-profit” arena using challenges posed by R&D-focused companies, will now be turned, for the first time, toward technological problems faced by poor or vulnerable people in the developing world. The new agreement is the first step in a larger Rockefeller Foundation initiative aimed at promoting innovation in a manner that spurs development, and that specifically increases access to proven innovation models for work on behalf of poor or vulnerable populations around the world. In some cases, the initiative will also help to advance access to, or distribution of specific innovations that can be of important benefit to poor or vulnerable people.
Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, said, “Our agreement with InnoCentive will enable researchers and entrepreneurs addressing the needs of the developing world to access one of the same, cutting-edge opportunities to innovate now enjoyed by Fortune 500 companies. We are delighted to launch our broader Innovation initiative with this exciting partnership.”
"The Rockefeller Foundation challenges are going to be new and exciting additions to our challenge set," said Dwayne Spradlin, President and CEO of InnoCentive. “These challenges will be particularly appealing to our global network of scientists and researchers due to the real potential that solutions will have a real and dramatic impact on the lives of people everywhere. Together, the Rockefeller Foundation and InnoCentive will tap, through the power of the Internet, many thousands of the brightest minds in the world's to tackle some of the most pressing problems facing the developing world."
“Many of the 110,000 scientists and researchers in our global community have often spoken to me about their desire to bring to bear their talents to overcome the most pressing human challenges of our times,” said Ali Hussein, InnoCentive’s chief marketing officer, vice president of global markets. “This partnership will invigorate our scientific community to work on problems whose solutions will benefit millions of people worldwide. It is an honor to know that, in conjunction with the Rockefeller Foundation, our platform that spurs innovation will help the world’s most needy.”
Under the agreement announced today, The Rockefeller Foundation will select non-profit entities and others with charitable intent eligible to use the InnoCentive platform under preferred conditions, and will pay access, posting and service fees on their behalf to InnoCentive, as well as challenge awards to those researchers solving the technology problems the non-profits pose. The Foundation will launch a new area on its own Web site, rockefellerfoundation.org, to recruit and screen organizations seeking this subsidy to use the InnoCentive platform.
About the Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller, Sr. to “promote the well-being” of humanity by addressing the root causes of serious problems. With assets of more than $3 billion, it is one of the nation’s largest private foundations. The Foundation works internationally to expand opportunities for poor and vulnerable people and to help ensure that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely. Two recently launched Rockefeller Foundation initiatives include the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and lead funding and other support for the Unified New Orleans Plan for rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
About InnoCentive, Inc.
InnoCentive is the first online platform that allows world-class scientists and science-based companies to collaborate in a global scientific community to achieve innovative solutions to complex challenges. Companies including Dow AgroSciences, Eli Lilly and Company, Procter & Gamble and others, which collectively spend billions of dollars on R&D, post scientific problems confidentially on the InnoCentive Web site where more than 110,000 scientists and scientific organizations in more than 175 countries can solve them. Scientists who deliver solutions that best meet InnoCentive's challenge requirements receive financial awards ranging up to and over USD$100,000. To learn more and to register as an InnoCentive Solver, visit the InnoCentive Web site at www.innocentive.com.
- RF to Extend InnoCentive’s Solutions to Global Development Problems
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