How to Design Prizes - Incentives in Innovation Contests.
Jürgen E. Wenger, Jörg B. A. Haller · 2010
Abstract: This research paper focuses on the use of prizes in innovation contests as means to encourage participation and efforts in open innovation activities. Building on a systematic review of 69 innovation contests, we investigate differences in the design of prizes between innovation contests focusing on ideation and those with a development orientation. Results show a very heterogeneous picture, indicating a lack of target-oriented design of innovation contests and need for future research. 1 Innovation Contests Innovation contests have a long-standing tradition and have contributed to a lot of modern comforts. Early variants already took place in the beginning of the 18th century as a study by Masters and Delbecq [MD08], comprising of 89 innovation contests of the last 300 years, illustrates. Among the first are examples like the open call of the UK government to find a reliable way for locating the longitude at sea. John Harrison, the winner of this innovation contest, was granted prize money of £ 20,000, worth $ 2 million today [MD08]. Nowadays innovation contests left the realm of rulers and