Just humour me for a moment.

It occurred to me that some of you might be wondering what on earth we are doing talking about innovation and aquaculture on the internet?

In fact its much more arcane than this. We are actually talking about using innovation in a structured and strategic way to overcome the global fish supply gap. Productivity transforming innovations… etc, etc

Anyhow, if you have read this far, then here goes…

Here is an excerpt from a piece written by Jeff Howe for his new book which he has also posted on his blog. He describes how one of the open innovation tools we discussed earlier had resulted in some creative innovation responses. Moreover he analyses who are the most productive innovators.

I found this piece both insightful and instructive. Clearly, it is critical for the number and quality of the innovation outcomes that we generate that we invite an array of people outside aquaculture disciplines to participate in our work… read on

When Lakhani dug into InnoCentive’s data, he discovered that Melcarek wasn’t the exception, he was the rule—the scientists most likely to solve a problem were the ones you’d least expect to be capable of solving it.

“We actually found the odds of a solver’s success increased in fields in which they had no formal expertise,” Lakhani says. The further the problem was from their specialized knowledge, the more likely it was to be solved. “Think of the problem as a flower. Except the goal is to attract not only the most insects, but the most diverse group of insects.”

And Lakhani’s paper contained an even more interesting gem: A full 75 percent of successful solvers already knew the solution to the problem. The solutions to the problems in the study—many of which, recall, had stumped the best corporate scientists in the world after years of effort—didn’t require a breakthrough, or additional brainpower, or a more talented scientist’s attention; they just needed a diverse enough set of minds to have a go at them.

It would seem to be evidence that Hayek was right: Civilization’s progress lies not in acquiring new knowledge, but in aggregating and utilizing the knowledge we already have.

Astounding!

You can access a link to innocentive and an array of other open innovation sites here.

Please invite your friends and colleagues from other disciplines to join us in our quest.