A Winning Strategy: Keys to Success in an Innovation Project

To speed up innovation, companies are looking beyond their internal resources and engaging with external contributors, like independent problem-solvers and online communities. Crowdsourcing gives organizations across various industries access to diverse perspectives, quicker solutions, and the chance to explore new opportunities without breaking the bank with inflated R&D budgets.

Some innovation challenges deliver real results, while others don’t. After running hundreds of successful challenges on MindSumo, we’ve identified five key factors that drive success. We’ll also show how MindSumo can help make your challenge a winning one.

5 Building Blocks of a Successful Innovation Challenge

1. Define Clear Goals and Objectives

An innovation challenge works best when you know exactly what you want to achieve. Before you start, define what success looks like for your company.

Setting clear goals helps focus the challenge on solving your specific problem. Are you looking for new product ideas, better marketing strategies, or solutions to engage customers? Questions like these can guide you toward the right outcome.

The companies that get the best results have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish. At MindSumo, we help define your goals and work closely with you to set objectives that will create real value for your organization.

2. Identify the Right Talent Pool

Once you have clear goals, the next step is finding the right innovators. Innovation contests benefit from a mix of expertise, but focusing on people with the right skills for your challenge leads to better results.

Simply opening the door to everyone won’t lead to the best results. Our data shows that companies who have the right set of participants get better, more productive solutions. MindSumo connects you with a global network of Millennial and Gen Z innovators who bring fresh perspectives and creativity.

Why does this matter? This diverse talent pool ensures your solutions are innovative, relevant, and aligned with the latest trends and customer needs. Their digital-native approach often uncovers opportunities that traditional thinking might overlook. Plus, these audiences value brands that invite them to co-create new products, as it gives them a voice in shaping future innovations.

3. Craft a Compelling Challenge Statement

Now that you know your goals and have identified your talent pool, it’s time to create your challenge statement. It should clearly explain the problem you want to solve while inspiring participants to think creatively and practically.

A strong challenge statement provides enough direction to keep submissions focused while encouraging innovation.

The most successful challenges on MindSumo include:

• A clear explanation of why the problem matters
• What an innovative solution looks like
• Enough rules to keep people focused, but not so many that they can’t be creative
• Detailed information about how solutions will be judged

The more specific you are about your evaluation criteria, the better results you’ll get. Remember, a strong challenge statement provides enough direction to keep submissions focused while leaving plenty of room for creative thinking.

Want to see examples of successful challenges? Looking for news and information on business innovation? Check out MindSumo’s resources page.

4. Provide Incentives and Recognition

With your challenge clearly defined, you’ll need to consider what motivates participants. While prizes motivate people, money isn’t the only thing that matters.

Many participants value recognition, career opportunities, and the chance to work on meaningful real-world challenges. Offering a variety of rewards encourages a sense of achievement and motivates participants to deliver their best work.

MindSumo’s platform includes features like rankings, achievement badges, and public recognition to keep solvers engaged. We’ve found that offering these diverse rewards can attract more participants and inspire higher-quality solutions.

5. Use Feedback and Iteration to Improve Results

Great innovation is rarely a one-and-done process. The most successful innovation challenges keep feedback and collaboration flowing, turning strong ideas into real-world solutions.

MindSumo makes this easy by providing tools for companies to ask questions, suggest improvements, and guide participants toward better results. Engaging with top problem-solvers and encouraging them to refine their ideas leads to polished, ready-to-use solutions.

This process ensures high-value outcomes from your challenge—just ask some of the major clients we’ve had the pleasure of working with.

MindSumo Supports Your Open Innovation Efforts

Interested in learning how crowdsourcing takes innovation to the next level? Share your challenge with us, and we’ll create a custom plan to show how crowdsourcing can meet your needs. Just fill out our short form to get started.

Ready to innovate? Contact us to schedule a Zoom meeting today.