Intermediation and Innovation Contests on the Internet: Lessons from the Study of Two Platforms

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the emergence of a new form of hybrid research, resulting from the meeting of the Internet and an old practice revitalized by the Web: innovation contests. Through the study of two specific systems, the private platform Innocentive.com and the government-related platform Challenge.gov, we propose to highlight the particularities of these two recent models of research and innovation organisation. We also seek to identify the main similarities and differences in the forms of intermediation practised by these two platforms and particularly as regards the range of service provision: provide information, guidance and expertise, create and conduct business transactions, solve complex challenges, manage Intellectual Property issues. This comparative analysis illustrates the great malleability of the system of online contests, which can thus adapt to very diverse needs on the part of sponsors and take into account the specificity of the required innovations.