The Open Innovation Solution to a Big Data Biomedics Challenge [INFOGRAPHIC]

 47 11

 

Big Data, if that isn’t the “winning” tech buzzword of 2012 we don’t know what is. You can’t turn on your TV or roam the blogosphere without being inundated with articles and pieces focusing on the Big Data trend. Even financial institutions are putting out very original content on the topic. If 2012 was about understanding the term, getting to know the space, and forecasting the potential impact Big Data will play for enterprises, governments and society as a whole, then perhaps we can make the pledge to make 2013 the year to focus on value creation in the space that is Big Data. How do you create value with all of that data?

Keep Big Data Simple

Value from Big Data boils down to what you can answer, solve, or improve. What powers these new discoveries and correlations are extraordinarily sophisticated algorithms. Algorithms are created by two sources, really smart machines, and people and the really smart machines were of course first created and programmed by really smart people. To create value from Big Data sources, you will need exceptional algorithms. To create exceptional algorithms, you need access to exceptional talent. 

Open Innovation is Your Access to Big Data Talent

Unless you are Google or a company of that size, stature, and allure it is extraordinarily difficult to consistently access the type of talent you will need to develop the algorithms that breed new successes and opportunities. And even if you are in the Google “category” and have close to zero issues hiring and sourcing amazing talent, many of the smartest people in the world still exist outside of your four walls and can help you succeed in this era of Big Data. 

The Open Innovation Big Data Infographic You Need to See

When you have so many talented individuals from around the globe working on the algorithms that will power your solutions and doing so within a competitive environment, it breeds extreme value outcomes. See this graphic below and please pay special attention to some of the metrics; such as how many individuals competed, how long the contest ran for, how many solutions were submitted and of course, the top solutions that were delivered.

PARTNERING VIDEO: Extreme Value Outcomes via Open Innovation

Both the Big Data Challenge results and the above infographic were outputs from separate TopCoder competitions.

See and download the full case study here. For a full size hi-res download of the above infographic please click here - Harvard Biomedics Big Data Open Innovation Infographic 

It’s almost 2013 and the topic of Big Data is not fading off into some picturesque sunset. In fact, it is still beginning its ascent and parlaying “itself” into the buzzwords that will drive tech discussions for the next 12 months and beyond. You will see the terms Quantified Self and the Industrial Internet discussed Ad nauseum in 2013. Keep in mind that data will power these movements, algorithms will create value from the data, and algorithms are created by extraordinary and exceptional talent.