One of the the ISS National Lab strategic goals is to establish a robust “innovation cycle” where sound scientific ideas drive the development of new technologies, new intellectual property and commercial opportunities. As within any industry, innovation can become stagnant as ideas are thoroughly debated in conference rooms and offices within the scientific community. When it comes to first-class science many potential projects are conceptualized with very advanced components, materials, and purpose. Scientific research is a never-ending pyramid of data and most concepts and experiments are based off the work of past research. However, when one is constantly working on the precipice of this scientific pyramid it can limit one’s creative scope and at times one is blinded to greater implications. When one’s gaze is solely fixed on the data and concepts already established innovative ideas can be limited. Sometimes it takes a pedestrian to notice the simpler, yet profound significance of the pyramid and how to better use it.
The metaphor of using the pedestrian to provide insight to a greater problem is known as crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is the process of sourcing ideas or manpower from an available pool of people as opposed to contracting needed services from an entity/expert within a particular field. Crowdsourcing is more or less an open forum that provides a cost-effective solution for solving problems or completing tasks. It is an effective brainstorming tool that major entities are using to problem solve and brainstorm. Coca Cola, Microsoft, IBM, McDonald’s, and GE are just a few major corporations that have used crowdsourcing to develop concepts, innovate branding, and market new ideas.
Recently, the ISS National Lab announced the winner of the first crowdsourcing contest, “What Would You Send to the ISS”. This contest was designed to spur innovation and expand our organization’s creative scope in an effort to generate new ideas that could lead to RFP solicitations or be used to conceptualize other potential projects that could eventually be implemented on the space station. The contest was very successful and received an admirable response from the public. Submissions poured in and all the selected winners had very practical ideas that provided Earth benefits. the ISS National Lab Science and Technology Advisory board actually recommended this contest, because external input might help steer industry trends for the future.
The grand prize winner, Elizabeth McDonald, wants to convey the beauty of science from space. Her idea is to fly a geo-tagged video camera to the International Space Station to capture the northern and southern lights in real time. Captured images can be displayed on the Aurorasaurus website, which includes a real time map tracking Earth observations of the auroras via various sources—including social media. In addition to improving this online platform, images of the northern and southern lights from ISS can be used as data to improve space weather forecasting and to better understand auroral behavior.
This contest intended to incite more public interest and awareness of the ISS NL and helped to generate additional ideas. This contest wasn’t intended to fly the winner’s idea directly to the ISS but rather use the ideas received as a spring board for even more research possibilities. Take the winning idea for example. The space station provides the most ideal platform for Earth observation. The high resolution imagery has limitless Earth based applications. McDonald wants to capture the northern and southern lights but imagine how many other fascinating views can be captured and enjoyed on Earth? Imagine students viewing cloud movement in real time or imagine seeing a sunrise from space in real time courtesy of the space station. How realistic could the next sci-fi thriller be with footage captured from the space station? This is why crowdsourcing works. The pool of creativity is once again stirred up by minds that aren’t bogged down with data, deadlines, or processes.
the ISS National Lab manages one of the greatest testaments to human invention and innovation. The space station is designed and equipped to facilitate groundbreaking research and discovery. As good stewards, the ISS National Lab is ensuring that the brightest minds within every sector of business and academia are aware of its availability and promoting use of station for terrestrial benefit. However, we also understand that creativity isn’t just housed within the halls of elite colleges or in the boardrooms of major corporations. So, we look forward to crowdsourcing in the future. We prioritize keeping the general public informed of our progress and also providing them a platform for their ideas. One of the greatest resources that we could ever call upon is the American people. We value that input because, ultimately, this station belongs to you.