Spark Innovation in Your Enterprise With MindSumo Open Innovation Solutions

What do over 1.5 million people across 8,000 companies know about the open innovation capabilities of MindSumo?

That they have access to 1.2+ million creative minds with fresh ideas.

MindSumo helps companies launch crowdsourcing challenges that focus brainpower on innovative solutions, resulting in a collection of winning ideas ready to kickstart the innovation funnel. With this foundation, your innovation or R&D team can evaluate and refine solutions to deliver the best results for your organization.

Let’s take a closer look at how MindSumo’s solutions can drive innovation in your organization.

What Is a MindSumo Challenge?

A MindSumo open innovation challenge is sent to 1.2+ million Millennial and Gen Z consumers, and a subset with the right expertise submits their ideas.

Our solvers bring unique advantages to your innovation challenge. Operating outside your company’s structure and culture, they approach challenges with fresh perspectives. Free from unconscious biases, they “color outside the lines,” offering innovative solutions that might not emerge internally. Their proactive problem-solving can spark new ideas and breakthroughs for your business.

Then together, we review the submissions and select winners, who are awarded a shared cash prize.

What Types of Challenges Work for You?

MindSumo clients—including leaders in industries like consumer packaged goods, food & beverage, and financial services & insurance—use innovation challenges to address a variety of business needs: ideation, product innovation, and consumer insights.

For example, challenges may center on enhancing customer experiences, sourcing ideas for new product introductions, or crafting new marketing campaigns for younger consumers. On average, MindSumo challenges attract between 75 to 150 unique and fully developed solutions, sourced from a community of over 1.2 million registered users.

Some recent MindSumo challenges by category include:

• Ideation
  • What’s new in experiential marketing?
  • What foods do you crave most?
  • How can we improve holiday shopping?
• Product
  • Propose a new way to learn about different cultures.
  • What is the next big food trend?
  • Help us design a standout swag item for an upcoming conference.
• Insight
  • What’s next for footwear?
  • What will smart homes look like in 10 years?
  • What AI use case will have the greatest societal impact?
• Humanities and Arts
  • Reimagine museums of the future.
  • What’s next in talent acquisition?
  • How can athletes connect better with audiences?
• Business
  • As a consumer, how do you stay informed?
  • Envision the future of social media.
  • What is the future of movie theaters?

Benefits of Completing an Open Innovation Project With MindSumo

The above examples only scratch the surface of what open innovation challenges can address. Focusing your challenges on key business areas helps you gain valuable input to accelerate strategic initiatives.

Here are just some of the benefits companies have found by partnering with MindSumo, backed by real-world examples:

Benefit: Provide a solid base of ideas for further exploration and possible implementation

Example: MindSumo’s platform has helped companies like a national home products manufacturer source 50% of its new product ideas, enriching its innovation pipeline.

Benefit: Help clients match their own theories and ideas against what real consumers are saying

Example: A Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods company worked with MindSumo to collect over 220 product name ideas, with 10+ of these ideas chosen for further testing. This helped ensure the product names matched consumer preferences and boosted confidence in their ability to capture the market.

Benefit: Uncover which directions NOT to take to prevent wasting time on unpopular ideas

Example: A global technology firm turned to MindSumo’s “Quick Solve” challenges to filter out unpromising ideas quickly, simplifying their innovation process and reducing the risk of costly missteps.

Benefit: Reveal new paths to explore by receiving ideas that internal teams wouldn’t have thought of on their own

Example: A Fortune 100 manufacturer used MindSumo to secure several practical R&D solutions while also building a new talent pipeline. This approach revealed innovative strategies that their internal teams hadn’t explored before.

Interested in Learning More About Open Innovation? Get Started With MindSumo

If you’re curious about the benefits of open innovation, simply fill out this form with your challenge topic ideas, and our team will create a mock-up for review. Share your company’s details and goals (we’ll help you refine them), and you’ll receive valuable ideas and insights to help you craft a plan for incorporating open innovation into your initiatives. We’re here to help you tap into the potential of MindSumo’s open innovation community.

Contact us to schedule a Zoom meeting today.