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Collaborating with Internal and External Partners

Innovation Challenges

In today’s fast-paced business environment, technological advancements occur at an unprecedented rate, and industries are constantly transforming. Companies must navigate this landscape to remain competitive and relevant. They need to foster a culture of innovation, invest in research and development, collaborate with external partners, and create flexible organizational structures that can adapt to change.

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Key Features of an Effective Idea Challenge Platform

To successfully run innovation challenges, organizations need more than just enthusiasm—they need the right digital platform. The ideal idea challenge tool should check a few crucial boxes:

User-Friendly Interface

If it’s not straightforward and engaging, employees and collaborators simply won’t use it. Look for solutions that make submitting and sharing ideas feel effortless, even enjoyable.

Universal Accessibility

In our increasingly remote and global world, it’s vital that the platform works seamlessly from any device or location—whether your team is in Singapore, San Francisco, or somewhere in between.

End-to-End Support for Ideation

The best platforms are built around the creative process, offering features for brainstorming, developing, and refining ideas all in one place.

Transparent Communication

Open dialogue is at the core of lasting innovation. Your tool should support transparent commenting, progress tracking, and real-time feedback to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.

Agility in Launching Challenges

Finally, speed matters. Launching new idea challenges should require minimal effort—think “a few clicks” instead of jumping through hoops—so you can move quickly in response to emerging trends.

When these attributes are in place, your team is empowered to contribute, collaborate, and drive meaningful innovation forward.

What is an Idea Challenge?

An idea challenge is a structured initiative designed to tap into the collective creativity of a targeted group—whether employees, stakeholders, or even the general public. Typically framed as a thought-provoking question or a call for solutions around a specific theme, idea challenges encourage participants to share their most innovative concepts.
By setting clear objectives and parameters, organizations can gather a diverse array of ideas focused on addressing a particular need, solving pressing problems, or capitalizing on new opportunities. Companies like LEGO, NASA, and Unilever have all used idea challenges to spark breakthrough thinking, uncover unexpected talent, and accelerate the journey from concept to implementation.
Harnessing the power of focused ideation in this way not only helps generate effective solutions but also cultivates a culture of engagement and continual improvement.

Key Success Factors for Running a Successful Idea Challenge

Launching an idea challenge can be a game-changer for organizations aiming to spark innovation and crowdsource creative solutions. But to truly reap the benefits, it’s essential to set the stage thoughtfully. Here are the top factors that consistently set successful idea challenges apart:

Engage the Right Audience

Involve individuals who are both genuinely interested in the challenge and have relevant knowledge or expertise. Tapping into a motivated and informed group drives higher participation rates and richer, more actionable ideas.

Perfect the Timing

Choose your launch window strategically. Avoid clashing with major deadlines, busy periods, or holidays that might divide your audience’s attention. Timing your challenge for a quieter moment ensures contributors bring their best energy and focus.

Create Meaningful Incentives

Motivation plays a pivotal role. While cash prizes or physical rewards might generate initial buzz, long-lasting engagement stems from intrinsic motivators—recognition, learning opportunities, or advancement. Creating room for participants to showcase their skills or build their reputations can foster deeper commitment and better-quality contributions.

Select an Effective Collaboration Platform

The platform you choose should be intuitive, enjoyable, and accessible from anywhere. Seamless functionality encourages ongoing engagement, while transparency and robust ideation tools keep the process organized. Look for features that support easy communication, constructive feedback, and effortless submission of ideas.

Prioritize Ongoing Interaction

Consistent, constructive communication is vital for maintaining momentum. Respond promptly, offer encouragement, and provide meaningful feedback throughout the process. When participants feel heard and valued, they’re more likely to stay engaged and share their most innovative thinking.

Determining the Right Audience for Your Idea Challenge

Selecting the right audience is fundamental to the success of any innovation challenge. The individuals or groups you invite will shape the quantity and quality of ideas you receive, the perspectives represented, and ultimately, the solutions surfaced for your organization.

To pinpoint the ideal participants, start by considering the nature and scope of your challenge:

Specialized Challenges

If your problem is highly technical or industry-specific, you may want to target a niche audience. This could be a particular department (like R&D or engineering) or even a small team with the necessary expertise.

Collaboration with Select Groups

Sometimes, the richest ideas come from blending internal knowledge with fresh, external perspectives. Consider forming focus groups with partners, suppliers, or academic researchers—anyone whose unique insights could shed new light on your challenge.

Company-Wide Engagement

For broader, open-ended themes, such as improving workplace culture or brainstorming new product lines, it often makes sense to invite everyone inside the organization. Not only does this tap into a wide pool of ideas, but it also fosters a sense of ownership and inclusivity among employees.

Ultimately, aligning your audience with your challenge objectives is key. The most effective idea challenges are those that strike a balance between relevancy and diversity, motivating participants to share their best thinking and contribute to the mission at hand.

Customer and Consumer Input

When you’re seeking feedback on products or services, involving your customer base can be invaluable. Platforms like LEGO Ideas demonstrate how crowdsourcing from engaged consumers can spark creativity and build brand loyalty.

Open Invitations to the Public

For challenges where you want to capture the widest range of perspectives—perhaps on issues affecting society at large, like sustainability or public health—casting the net wide and opening participation to the broader public can yield unexpected, innovative results.

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Are you a Subject Matter Expert?

Ezassi is often tasked with helping our clients find incremental, adjacent, and transformational success. Our proprietary approach to search and attract targeted groups of individuals is defining the way companies accelerate innovation. Our Subject Matter Experts (SME) can solve various types of highly specific innovation challenges. From in-depth technology scouting projects to bespoke innovation challenges, Ezassi has the resources to help our clients meet consumer needs and drive long-term value for their organization.

If you are a SME looking to participate in global innovation, you have come to the right place.

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First Responder UAS 6.0

Open Innovation Challenge

Seeking drone enthusiasts for the frontline of innovation!

Championed by Challenge.gov in conjunction with our Innovation Software-as-a-Service platform, NIST First Responder UAS 6.0 is a competition designed to accelerate the development of unmanned aerial systems to improve first responder safety and effectiveness in action.

Ezassi is dedicated to implementing technologies that safeguard public safety and drive positive change. We support the contestant portal and challenge website for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) innovation competition.

Throughout the Challenge, subject matter experts, startups, and drone enthusiasts collaborate and contribute their invaluable knowledge across domains such as AI, radio communications and mapping, IoT, and cybersecurity. Their research and technology designs will aid first responders with data gathering and situational awareness in radio-complex outdoor environments especially during wildfire, earthquake, and other perilous, natural disaster rescue missions.
Challenge Website

Why Innovation Challenges Work

An innovation challenge is a powerful tool to gather creative solutions around a specific business need or strategic goal. By presenting a focused question or area of improvement to a targeted audience—whether internal teams, external experts, or a global network—you harness the collective intelligence of hundreds or even thousands of minds. This approach streamlines ideation, guiding participants to produce the most relevant ideas and actionable insights.
Innovation challenges excel at addressing both complex strategic problems and simple process enhancements. For instance, organizations often use challenges to rally employees around new initiatives, ensuring alignment from leadership to the front line. The benefits are clear:

Time Savings

Collect and evaluate ideas efficiently without the overhead of managing a sprawling process.

Effectiveness

Focus ideation on what matters most, driving impactful outcomes.

Improved Communication

Make strategic priorities visible and actionable, helping employees at every level understand and contribute to organizational goals.

Tools and Templates for Streamlining Your Idea Challenge

Launching an idea challenge doesn’t need to be overwhelming, especially when you have the right resources at your disposal. To help you get started—and keep your process on track—here are a few practical tools and templates that can make all the difference:

Presentation Slide Decks

Visual slide templates make it easy to plan your challenge and share your vision with stakeholders. Use them to map out key phases, outline roles, and communicate timelines clearly across your organization.

Email Frameworks

Save time (and avoid miscommunication!) with pre-built email templates for engaging participants, announcing milestones, and providing updates. These templates help ensure everyone stays informed and motivated from kickoff to completion.

Challenge Planning Canvas

A customizable canvas provides a one-page overview of your challenge objectives, success metrics, key dates, and team responsibilities. Use it as a living roadmap through each stage of your innovation journey.

These ready-to-use resources can help you organize, launch, and manage idea challenges more efficiently—enabling your team to focus on what matters most: generating actionable solutions and driving results. Explore more resources, or download a toolkit to jumpstart your idea challenge—and take the first step toward tapping your company’s collective creativity.
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Communicating the Essentials for a Successful Challenge Launch

Making your innovation challenge soar begins with a sharp, strategic launch. Hitting “go” might be the simplest step—setting up for engagement and clarity is where the real lift-off happens. For a launch that draws in the right people and sets strong momentum, your communications must cover four crucial touchpoints:

Clarify the Challenge Purpose

Clearly articulate what the challenge is all about. State its theme and overarching goals so your audience understands not just what you want, but the real-world problems or opportunities you’re tackling—whether it’s deploying drones for disaster response, finding sustainable packaging, or anything in-between.

Share the Reasoning

Lay out the “why” behind your challenge process. When participants understand the rationale—such as industry trends, consumer demands, or scientific gaps—they become invested in contributing meaningful solutions instead of just chasing prizes.

Define Participation Roles

Spell out the expectations, guidelines, and steps for getting involved. Whether participants are ideators, technical builders, or reviewers, they need a roadmap for their responsibilities so they know exactly how to make an impact.

Highlight Motivations and Rewards

Finally, explain why it’s worth their while to engage. Connect the challenge to personal and professional growth, mission-driven impact, or tangible rewards—like networking, recognition, financial incentives, or contributing to innovations that can change lives.

By addressing these fundamentals and keeping the lines of communication open, you not only set your challenge up for smooth operation, but also cultivate the enthusiasm and drive that fuel high-caliber participation.
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CPG Industry Challenge

PFAS-Free Packaging

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are synthetic chemicals used in a wide range of products for their water- and grease-resistant properties. These chemicals have been used for decades in various consumer and industrial applications, including food and beverage packaging.

Concerns have been raised about the potential health and environmental effects of PFAS. Some studies have linked exposure to certain PFAS compounds to health issues such as cancer, developmental problems, and immune system dysfunction. PFAS are also known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily in the environment and can accumulate over time.

Do you have a viable solution to this CPG challenge? Click submit idea and get the chance to work with the top CPG companies in the world.

SUBMIT IDEA
Energy Industry Challenge

Fast Charging Anode

Developing silicon, lithium metal, and anode-free technologies for electric vehicle (EV) batteries is a crucial area of research and innovation in the electric vehicle industry. Each of these technologies has the potential to improve the performance, energy density, and overall efficiency of batteries, which are key factors in advancing the adoption of electric vehicles.

The development of these technologies is driven by the desire to increase the energy density of batteries, reduce charging times, extend battery lifespans, and enhance overall EV performance.

Do you have a viable solution to this Energy challenge? Click submit idea and get the chance to work with the top Energy companies in the world.
SUBMIT IDEA
Aerospace Industry Challenge

Engine Health Monitoring System (EHMS)

Monitoring turbofan engines presents its own set of challenges and issues, which are crucial to address for the safe and efficient operation of aircraft.
An Engine Health Monitoring System (EHMS), also commonly referred to as an Engine Condition Monitoring (ECM) system or Engine Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS), is a specialized set of tools, sensors, software, and processes used to continuously monitor, analyze, and assess the condition and performance of an aircraft’s engines, such as turbofan engines. The primary goal of an EHMS is to ensure the safe, efficient, and reliable operation of aircraft engines while minimizing downtime and maintenance costs.
Do you have a viable solution to this Aerospace challenge? Click submit idea and get the chance to work with the top Aerospace companies in the world.
SUBMIT IDEA

Cyber Scouting Case Study with External Innovation Software

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