We have been working on a project for a while now that we are very excited about. It is called OpenIDEO and it is launching today. We are hoping that we can create a platform for you to work with us on some important social innovation projects. Don't worry if you are not a practicing designer. There is room for you to contribute things that may inspire other designers, post your own ideas or you can evaluate ideas that others have suggested. One of the first challenges is for Jamie Oliver, this years'  TED prize winner. The goal is to find ways to inspire and educate people (especially kids) to cook and eat healthier food. The other current challenge is for Gray Matters Capital and is to do with low cost educational tools for the developing world. Check them both out and contribute if you can.

The idea of crowdsourcing innovation is, in my view, still a big experiment. Conventionally the question has been whether the crowd can outperform the internal team. Our view is that small teams are good for some things and the broader community is good for others. The goal of OpenIDEO is to find out whether it is possible to orchestrate a collaboration between the two to achieve better results. We are starting the experiment now and we hope you will join us.

Let us know what you think!