Competitions Spark Innovation

Fostering new product development and seeking a potential source of insight can be quite tricky. Innovators must constantly find new means to bring out their creative brainchild, so how does TopCoder Inc. do it? TopCoder has a unique method to bring forth new software and applications to the table. This article on Global Best Practices discusses how this company hosts a 'submit the best software code' competition on its website. The winning coder receives a cash prize, and is solely judged on its quality and the time spent to create the code. Winning codes are later perfected by TopCoder's application team, and is later launched out to the public. Companies should look into hosting competitions as an innovative way to inspire the generation of creative concepts. Not only does this process save the company a lot of money, it also reduces unnecessary 'brainstorming' time from new product development teams. What are some competitions your company presents to encourage cutting-edge breakthrough in your industry?