[LINK] collective wisdom

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Bob TEDESCHI <www.nytimes.com> March 3, 2008

On Ben Kaufman’s site, <http://kluster.com> companies pay users for ideas. 

That’s the theory behind Kluster, the newest in a lineup of companies
using the Web to channel the collective wisdom into meaningful business 
strategies. 

With a cash reward system for contributors, Kluster hopes to attract just
enough visitors with just enough business smarts to gain early momentum.

Members of the public use Kluster to generate ideas for a new product,
then chose the most promising one and collaborate on the design. One 
result is, "Over There," an educational board game intended to promote
cultural awareness, with questions like, “What percentage of the world’s
population lives further than one mile from a pure water source?”

According to Ben Kaufman, Kluster’s 21-year-old founder, there were a few
parameters for that project, including provisions that the product could
not be wider or longer than eight inches and only specific materials, like
single injection plastic, could be used. Going into the process, Mr. 
Kaufman said he hoped the product would “be something that doesn’t just 
serve an uninteresting consumer need, but a humanitarian product that can 
be used by everyone.”

Mr. Kaufman said several well-known manufacturers would offer projects on 
the site. He would not disclose the identities of those businesses, but 
some, he said, would offer $50,000 or more for winning ideas.

Kluster will make money, he said, by taking 15 percent of any rewards 
offered to projects and by charging fees for prominent placement of 
projects on the site, among other things.

Don Tapscott, the business strategy consultant and co-author of the book
“Wikinomics,” said executives were quickly warming to the strategic value
of “P.F.E.” ideas, or those “proudly found elsewhere.”

“Throughout the 20th century, we’ve had this view that talent is inside
the company,” Mr. Tapscott said. “But with the Web, collaboration costs
are dropping outside the boundaries of companies, so the world can become
your talent.”

“No matter how good a V.C. I could be,” he said, “I could never be smarter
than the wisdom of a collective community.”
--

Cheers people
Stephen Loosley
Victoria, Australia