
We powered PwC’s Digital Compass call on how Canada can lead in a digital economy. I’m really interested in the topic, so I spent a good amount of time in there reading the ideas, commenting and voting. The campaign lasted for 7 weeks, with 6 calls (one a week) and then a week long showdown.
It just finished Tuesday, with the top 3 idea submitters getting passes to the Canada3.0 conference in Ontario. For more information on how it worked, watch for our upcoming interview with PwC. In the meantime, here are some of the things I thought were interesting about crowdsourcing a call like this:
- Time well spent. Compared to other solution hunt projects, PwC had high participation. The effort it took to stop, come up with an idea that could improve Canada’s digital economy and then write it down was a lot to ask of people. Yet 73 ideas were thoughtfully submitted.
- Not a popularity contest. Community members that actively recruited their friends seem no more likely to receive votes. Before anyone could vote, they had to sign up and then hit the list of all ideas. It seems as though this extra step meant that friends voted for what they thought was the best idea. As people took an interest in the topic, the quality of submissions and comments remained high.
- Improving quality of life. In Canada, we’re concerned about healthcare
The idea on Digital Health Care took home the most votes. I think this is indicative of how the nation feels right now. Technology and gadgets are cool, but now we want to see practical applications for them that really improve our lives.
We’ll see organizations use crowdsourcing to innovate and advance more and more in the future. It can engage a crowd for breakthrough ideas, production of technology or products and problem solving that is impossible using internal employees alone. We’re hoping our upcoming project we’re working on with Oxford will bring us closer to solving some of those problems, specifically around delivering lifesaving maternal healthcare. Stay tuned for more details!
photo by: dancoulter