Open Innovation: How the United Nations is Changing the World by Collaborating with It

The United Nations has launched an open innovation challenge through Planview IdeaPlace to tackle interrelated challenges in developing regions. The UN is leveraging crowdsourcing to tap the collective intelligence of individuals, teams and organisations, as a tool to frequently and easily access potential solutions. This approach allows the organisation to better understand how access to education or water sources in developing nations affects child health and nutrition over time, for example. Harnessing expertise from data scientists worldwide, UN analysts can turn georeferenced data into meaningful data analysis and visuals to present to stakeholders. The UN's framework for innovation includes: frequent ideation, diverse sources of ideas, and effective idea implementation.