Innovation Blueprint

Ref IDI-10 Technology Scouting

Open Innovation Sourcing

An open-call program that broadcasts defined internal problems to external solvers, universities, and partner networks, so solutions can come from people you would never have thought to ask.

Impact

Operational Strategic

Time to Value

Quick Long-term

Maturity

Beginner Advanced

Scale

Team Ecosystem

Blueprint

Open Innovation Sourcing Pipeline

IDI Anatomy

01 Outcomes

What does success look like?

Solved problems that internal R&D was stuck on Evaluated solution proposals from unexpected sources New relationships with solvers, labs & partners A repeatable open-call capability the business trusts

The program bets on a simple asymmetry: for any hard problem, most of the people who could solve it work somewhere else. A well-run open call converts that outside knowledge into evaluated solutions and working relationships, at a fraction of the cost of building the expertise internally.

02 Assets

What data do you need to gather?

Inputs Reference Outputs

Internal problem statements seeking solutions Solution proposals from external solvers Solver profiles & credentials Evaluation criteria per open call IP, confidentiality & award frameworks Results of previous open calls Evaluated & ranked solution proposals Engagement agreements with selected solvers A growing network of proven external solvers

The make-or-break asset is the published problem statement: open enough to invite unconventional answers, precise enough to be judged, and scrubbed of anything confidential. Everything downstream inherits its quality.

03 Allies

Who do you need to involve?

Team Company Ecosystem

Open innovation manager Technical evaluators & translators Problem owners in R&D or the business Legal & IP counsel Procurement for solver engagement Universities & research labs Solver communities & innovation intermediaries Suppliers & partner networks

Open innovation runs on trust in both directions: the internal problem owner must genuinely want an outside answer, legal must make participation safe for solvers rather than hostile, and the external networks must believe your calls end in real decisions and fair awards.

04 Process

How does the work flow?

Discovery Evaluation Implementation

Select & frame the problem

Choose problems worth outside eyes and rewrite them for external solvers, without exposing confidential context.

Prepare the legal frame

Set the IP terms, confidentiality boundaries, and award structure before the call opens.

Broadcast the call

Publish through your own channels, university partners, and solver networks, with a clear deadline.

Collect & screen proposals

Gather submissions in a structured format and screen for completeness and basic fit.

Evaluate & select

Score qualifying proposals against the published criteria with technical and business judges.

Award & engage

Announce results, compensate as promised, and move winning solvers into pilots, licensing, or partnership.

Broadcast wide, evaluate tight: the call goes out to an open pool, but proposals come back into a disciplined evaluation with published criteria, and every call closes with awards and answers, because your reputation in the solver community is the program’s real capital.

IDI · ANATOMY

FIG. 01

Outcomes · outflow

↓ Assets · inflow

Allies · coalition →

Process · throughput

Product & Feature Support

How Qmarkets powers Open Innovation Sourcing

Turn this blueprint into business impact

Q-scout gives open innovation its infrastructure: branded open-call pages that present the problem professionally to the outside world, structured submission forms that make wildly different proposals comparable, managed access so external solvers see exactly what they should and nothing more, and evaluation workflows that carry proposals to a defensible selection. Every call builds the solver network, because participants, proposals, and outcomes stay on record.

Get a Demo

Smart tools and intelligent features to streamline Open Innovation Sourcing.

Iris AI screens incoming proposals for completeness, clusters them by solution approach, drafts evaluator summaries in a common structure, and flags proposals resembling past submissions or known prior art, so a call that draws two hundred entries still reaches a fair verdict on schedule.

Discover Iris AI

About Open Innovation Sourcing

How is this different from startup scouting?

Direction and audience. Scouting hunts outward for companies against your funnel; open sourcing broadcasts a problem and lets unknown solvers come to you: researchers, engineers, suppliers, and startups alike. The two feed each other, but the open call is problem-first, not company-first.

What kinds of problems suit an open call?

Problems that are hard for you but describable to strangers: technical challenges, material or process questions, and algorithmic tasks with clear success criteria. Problems that require deep proprietary context travel poorly and belong in co-creation with trusted partners instead.

How do we handle IP and confidentiality?

With a frame set before the call opens: what solvers keep, what transfers on award, and what the submission terms are. Simple, solver-friendly terms attract better proposals; aggressive terms filter for participants with nothing better to do.

Won't we expose our weaknesses by publishing problems?

You expose a question, not a wound, and framing controls how much context travels with it. In practice the signal sent is confidence: organizations that ask openly are read as serious about solving, and competitors learn far less than solvers contribute.

How do we attract quality solvers?

Reputation, reach, and respect: real awards paid as promised, clear criteria, decisions on schedule, and feedback to serious entrants. University and intermediary partnerships bootstrap reach; how you treated the last cohort determines the next one.

What does an award structure look like?

Match it to the ask: prizes for concept-stage answers, paid pilots or licensing for developed solutions, and partnership tracks for solvers you want long-term. The award is the start of the engagement, not the end of it.

How many open calls should we run?

Two to four well-run calls per year outperform a constant stream. Each call needs a committed problem owner, real evaluation capacity, and follow-through on winners; the constraint is internal seriousness, not external supply.

How does Qmarkets specifically support this blueprint?

Q-scout hosts the open-call pages, manages secure external participation, structures submissions for comparison, and runs the evaluation to a documented selection. Iris AI screens and clusters proposals and drafts evaluator summaries so large calls stay decidable.

Operationalize this blueprint

See Open Innovation Sourcing in action.

Discover how you can run open innovation calls that bring external solvers to your hardest problems and end in evaluated, engaged solutions.

Endlessly configurable

Take the open-call format as-is or shape every term, criterion, and stage to your own IP and risk frame.

Customer success, every step

A dedicated team supports you from kickoff onward.

Trusted by innovation leaders

Join innovation teams at leading enterprises worldwide who run their programs on Qmarkets.

Talk to our team