Headline, December14, 2013

''' IDEAS - !!! SOLUTIONS ^^^ 

- >CASH '''

Vladimir Belov, a Russian chemist working in Germany, saw an unusual

appeal on the Web. An anonymous firm was looking for a new way to obtain    ''nitrogen protection''  for an amino acid. The question posed was similar to his work at  KademCustomChem in Gottingen.

After eight weekends in his lab, he sent in a solution, and before long a $20,000 check arrived. Belov still has no idea who asked the question, nor even what the substance is for.

Welcome to the new face of..........Industrial Research.

Scientists have long suspected that solutions to myriad problems were somewhere.........out there   -scattered among research labs and even kitchens, even universities, in the world over   -if only, if only, they could figure out how to find them.

Some years ago pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly took a stab and formed InnoCentive, an online forum. Soon Dow Chemicals and Procter & Gamble joined in. Now more and more companies have posted problems that have stumped their own experts on  innocentive. Thousands  and thousands  ''solvers''  have offered answers.

''What blew our minds is that solutions can come from the most unobvious people.'' said P&G's research manager. One lab had given up on making a certain compound, only to kind a chemist in Kazakhistan who had it in a jar in his refrigerator.

InnoCentive's Web site is creating a sort of freeagent system of experts around the world.  ''It's a Web-based competitive outsourcing,'' said director general of India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. InnoCentive's many scientists help clients frame questions and screen the solutions.

To avoid tipping off rivals, all postings are anonymous. The secrecy also gives solvers an unbiased shot at the glory. Submissions are geography blind, and job titles are irrelevant.

Most companies would never have hired   28-year-old grad student Michael Cash at the University of Georgia to find an efficient way to make a compound similar to tryptophan. ''I instantly had an idea how to go about it,'' said Cash, who solved the problem in two weeks.

Big forms like the arrangement because it shifts all the risk onto researchers, who don't get paid unless they produce results. Even then, they often can't keep the money.

Cash gave half his  $30,000  award to his university, and another quarter to his professor, leaving him enough left to pay off credit-card debit.

Apparao Satyam, who clocked in 20-hour days for three weeks, only to have his employer,  Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, take his entire $75,000 award. ''Now I am not motivated to solve any of  InnoCentive's problems,'' Satyam griped.

Winners must relinquish all intellectual-property rights to their discoveries, leaving them to wonder which kind of fortune they helped secure for their mystery seeker.

Despite such drawbacks, plenty of challengers are willing to tackle the many many questions on the site. The cash prize from $5,000  to           $100,000   -can go far in places like Russia, where top chemists earn around $350 a month.

''All your financial problems can be solved with a big award,'' said Anotoly Rusanov, vice president of the Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society.

One Polish Scientist won $75,000 -twice. But it's not just about money. ''The problems are very interesting,'' said Valery Lunin, head of physical chemistry at Moscow State University.

The pure beauty is ''It's the intellectual challenge of being able to solve a problem that nobody could before. It's not easy to quit.  I think that's the kind of addiction InnoCentive and its clients are betting on.

Never ever forget, =  Welcome To  !WOW!

With respectful dedication to all the Students, Professors and Teachers of Poland. See Ya all on !WOW! the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Intellectual Capital  In Place '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless