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Is crowdsourcing a try-it-once fad, or a business idea that will stick over the long run? Typically, for those that have tried crowdsourcing, the number of ideas generated decline over time, and actual implementation rates for posted ideas end up being disappointingly low. But at this point the crowdsourcing process may be delivering more value than first realized, a new study out of Carnegie-Mellon University concludes.

We can call it open innovation, crowdsourcing or co-creation - or something else. In short, it is about bringing external input to an innovation process and this is no longer a buzzword. Companies are learning that they must embrace this paradigm shift of innovation in order to keep up with the competition and those that are lagging behind, well, they will find themselves to be in big trouble in the coming years. This list of corporate initiatives is worth looking into if you want to get an idea of what is happening with the open innovation, crowdsourcing and co-creation today.

"One of the most interesting start-ups that keeps popping up on my radar screen is Crowdflower, which connects nonprofits and companies with people around the globe looking to work on crowdsourced tasks. It's a fascinating glimpse at future contract labor models and at how work relationships are becoming more distributed, global, ephemeral and efficient. Crowdflower takes simple tasks and breaks them down, using a global network of workers to determine, say, if a tweet about a brand is negative or positive, or if a piece of content violates a site's community guidelines. The person might spend 2 minutes on a task, an hour, or more. "The advantage is that the person doesn't have to drive to work, they don't even have to sign up for a website. They can just come to a job post, accomplish a task and get paid - in minutes," says Crowdflower CEO and founder Lukas Biewald."

A new app developed in North Africa uses crowdsourced smartphone data to construct indoor floorplans

McDonald's has used crowdsourcing to find new ideas for its burgers. Finalists can get their own burger design created and sold to over two million daily visitors in outlets across Germany.

Traditional models of research are evolving in an increasingly collaborative world. Crowdsourcing, which taps into the skills of the crowd, is becoming popular as a means of solving problems and creating innovations. Could having access to the collective mind revolutionize the practice of science?

"Here is an overview of valuable, free books and reports related to open innovation, co-creation and crowdsourcing. Drop a comment if you know of other books, reports, or longer articles that are available for free and worth sharing."

The authors cover in depth how cities are using a host of social media tools to enhance governments' delivery of many different kinds of services, ranging from distributing health and safety information, to responding to requests for graffiti removal and infrastructure repair, to encouraging and soliciting citizen participation in policy-making. They also outline how different cities run their social media operations, laying out the benefits and drawbacks of centralized versus decentralized social media strategy, and detailing how some cities structure the approval process prior to posting content to social media sites. Beyond presenting best practices, "The Rise of Social Government" highlights emerging trends in social media and how governments can get take advantage of them. Essential trends include monitoring, measuring crowdsourcing and integration of the mobile web. The authors take care to differentiate between monitoring and measuring social media. While monitoring involves listening to conversations on various platforms, measuring involves tracking the numbers that encompass engagement and the report details tools for each activity. The authors also talk about the rise of mobile social media and mobile apps, and the use of crowdsourcing, especially for emergency management

"Le laboratoire mobile de BMW a fait étape à Berlin et a mis au point une carte des rues que les personnes à vélo peuvent enrichir en indiquant la praticabilité et l'accès aux commerces des rues qu'ils parcourent."

"Le pays a mis en place une réglementation qui permet aux citoyens de suggérer des lois, qui seront votées s'ils rassemblent 50 000 signatures. Une plateforme de crowdsourcing a du coup été lancée, pour faciliter les initiatives."

Cooperative tools and exponential technologies are reshaping our globe. You no longer have to sit on the sidelines and wait for the future to happen. You are now empowered to get involved to change the world. If you're sick of the doom and gloom and ready to get in the game, explore the resources below. Here are some great crowdsourcing and collaboration tools on the web:

"Aux Etats-Unis, le gouvernement, les Etats et collectivités locales se tournent rapidement vers les réseaux sociaux. Conscientes des possibilités qui s'ouvrent en termes d'innovation et d'affaire, ces institutions ont décidé de faire appel à l'intelligence collective (crowdsourcing) en rejoignant les citoyens sur des outils qu'ils utilisent et maîtrisent au quotidien. L'objectif serait de profiter des opportunités qu'offrent ces outils numériques pour augmenter la communication et l'engagement des citoyens dans leurs villes. Selon une étude menée par GovWin IQ - Deltek, les opportunités identifiées représenteraient près de 1,4 trillions de dollars."

"Crowdsourcing can create an artificial chat partner that's smarter than Siri-style personal assistants."

Unilever had painted itself into a corner. After the global consumer goods company published its Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan laying out ambitious sustainability goals, company leaders realized meeting those goals was going to be tough. So they got creative. Working with GlobeScan, they created an online collaboration platform with one clear purpose - to enable Unilever to hit its sustainability targets for 2020. "We can't solve these issues on our own," explained Miguel Pestana, VP Global External Affairs, "We need to engage with civil society, companies, government and other key stakeholders. It's about developing new models of collaboration."

Quick Pitch: A crowdsourcing site for original music compositions. Genius Idea: scoreAscore connects composers with companies seeking music for commercials or other videos.

"The Finnish government has approved the technology behind a new 'Open Ministry' platform, which will act as a hub for citizens who want new laws voted on in the country's parliament. But could that work elsewhere?"

We have 3.1 million jobs available today and 24 million people unemployed or underemployed. In the absence of a massive government job-creation program, this disparity will require a wave of entrepreneurial activity to create jobs.