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CrowdSpirit, a Scottish-French venture, focuses on harnessing the power of crowds to allow inventors and adaptors to take their products to market. By involving end-users in every aspect of a product’s life-cycle, the company aims to start a revolution in manufacturing by creating electronic products driven and inspired by customers’ wishes & expectations.
How it works
Inventors submit ideas for new or improved electronic products. They can also find solutions to problems submitted by contributors. Contributors vote for the best ideas and define detailed product specifications with manufacturers. Investors invest money in the best products to finance their development. Testers test the first prototypes and help to “fine-tune” the products with the manufacturers to get the best products. Ambassadors promote the products to retailers in order to increase the sales coverage of the products. Supporters help to support the products by writing or translating product manual, helping fixing customer product issues, etc.
A selection of inventions will be launched in parallel, so that the community can work on several projects at the same time.
CrowdSpirit’s primary focal point is electronics (Audio & Video Equipment, Peripherals, and Auto Electronics) with a market price below 150 euro.
About “Crowdsourcing”
The term “”Crowdsourcing” was coined by Wired magazine in June 2006. Is a neologism for a business model that depends on work being done outside the traditional company walls: while outsourcing is typically performed by lower paid professionals, crowdsourcing relies on a combination of volunteers and low-paid amateurs who use their spare time to create content, solve problems, or even do corporate R&D.
Sources
- CrowdSpirit
- Wired magazine – The Rise of Crowdsourcing
- BusinessWeek – Crowdsourcing: Consumers as Creators
Via Springwise