Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Download a PDF of the press release here
COLLABORATIVE DISCOVERY: Brainstorming + Social Media + Robotics for Enterprise Insights
"What happens when robotics research at UC Berkeley is combined with the
classic process of Brainstorming and Social Media?"
The Collaborative Discovery Engine is being announced today at the Web 2.0
Summit Conference in San Francisco, CA. The system was developed by Hybrid
Wisdom Labs, a new company emerging from more than a decade of robotics
and social media research at UC Berkeley. Hybrid Wisdom’s patented, lab-refined
technology has been used by General Motors, Unilever, Humana, and the US
Department of State. Hybrid Wisdom is offering the system to enterprises as a
new way to scalably and rapidly generate insights from their customers and
employees. The company is also offering a prize for the most insightful new
application of their system.
Innovation is critical for any enterprise to stay competitive and now companies
are turning to social media to leverage the collective intelligence of their
customers and employees. However, existing social innovation tools use listbased
discussion interfaces which don't scale well and can grow unmanageable
for these enterprises. "Linear lists are often dominated by extreme postings that
can oversimplify and overshadow the rich variety of viewpoints," said Howard
Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs.
Collaborative Discovery combines ideas from brainstorming, social media, and
an unlikely source -- robotics -- into a new process that uses dynamic
visualization and analytic algorithms to rapidly filter insightful solutions based
on input from thousands of participants. "Robots have to be aware of space and
geometry, and to rapidly filter vast amounts of complex data," says Ken
Goldberg, UC Berkeley professor and CTO of Hybrid Wisdom.
The Collaborative Discovery Engine eliminates lists and uses new visualization
methods to instantly display where users and ideas stand based on the diversity
of their opinions. "Collaborative Discovery has two key benefits over existing
social innovation tools: scale and speed," says David Wong, CEO of Hybrid
Wisdom. "It scales to support thousands of participants without sacrificing
speed in finding the best solutions."
In January 2010, Hybrid Wisdom partnered with a leading Fortune 50
manufacturer to find insightful solutions into how they could improve their brand
and reputation. The Collaborative Discovery Engine engaged 1,200 of their most
valued customers. After a few weeks, the most valuable insights were reported
back to the company, including users’ desires around extending warranties to
convey confidence in quality and stability. Both the company and the
participants were extremely pleased. In a follow up survey, 95% of users
indicated that they would be "Extremely Likely" to participate again.
Hybrid Wisdom is applying its technology to its own operations. A Collaborative
Discovery Engine is now open to the public on their website inviting solutions to
the question:
"What is a problem that Collaborative Discovery could help you solve and why?"
A $1000 prize will be awarded to the most insightful solution. See how
Collaborative Discovery works and submit ideas at www.hybridwisdom.com.
In January 2010, Hybrid Wisdom partnered with a leading Fortune 50
manufacturer to find insightful solutions into how they could improve their brand
and reputation. The Collaborative Discovery Engine engaged 1,200 of their most
valued customers. After a few weeks, the most valuable insights were reported
back to the company, including users’ desires around extending warranties to
convey confidence in quality and stability. Both the company and the
participants were extremely pleased. In a follow up survey, 95% of users
indicated that they would be "Extremely Likely" to participate again.
Hybrid Wisdom is applying its technology to its own operations. A Collaborative
Discovery Engine is now open to the public on their website inviting solutions to
the question:
"What is a problem that Collaborative Discovery could help you solve and why?"
A $1000 prize will be awarded to the most insightful solution. See how
Collaborative Discovery works and submit ideas at www.hybridwisdom.com.
