and product specifications related to the challenge. A science team
at InnoCentive screens input from solvers and forwards potential
solutions to the seeker company, who then issues a “bounty” of up
to $100,000 for an answer that meets its needs.
As of mid-2003, more than 25,000 scientists from more than
125 countries had registered with InnoCentive, and more
than 9,000 project rooms have been opened, mainly focusing on
challenges in chemistry and biology, such as that of the following
sample query: “The following N-Boc-7-azabicyclo [2.2.1] heptene
is in need of an efficient synthetic strategy. This molecule has been
reported in the literature, but the existing routes have several
low-yielding steps. Devise and execute the best synthetic pathway.”
The model has proved particularly attractive to solvers in coun-
tries like China and India, which have enormous scientific talent
but relatively low pay scales. For example, in 2002, InnoCentive
paid one of its largest awards to date, $75,000, to a scientist in
India, where the average annual salary for a chemist is less than
$25,000.
Users have described InnoCentive as an effort to tear down
the walls of traditional R&D laboratories. “It’s a vehicle for expos-
ing important unsolved problems to, almost literally, the entire
global scientific community,” says Alph Bingham, chairman of
InnoCentive and a vice president with Lilly.^4
Bingham adds that InnoCentive is a classic example of a
decentralized network approach to problem solving. “Its value
increases exponentially with the number of participants. The more
problems we post, the more attractive our site is to solvers. And as
new solvers register, the collective IQ of the network increases, in
turn encouraging seekers to post new and more sophisticated chal-
lenges. This virtuous circle serves to keep building and enhancing
a true community.”
Like Lilly, InnoCentive will have to grow in order to succeed.
To date the enterprise has signed three more seeker companies, and
already it is adding new features to its Web site, including pharma-
ceutical problems that extend beyond discovery research. Bingham
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