Open Innovation Success Stories
Read how prize competitions, challenges, crowdsourcing, and citizen science opportunities advance technology supporting NASA and benefit the solvers who participate.
What is open innovation?
Open innovation describes initiatives that collaborate directly with the public / “the crowd” through opportunities such as prize competitions, challenges, crowdsourcing, and citizen science, with the idea that NASA can learn from the ingenuity and creativity of the public while also stimulating interest in our missions.
Newest Story
NASA Challenge Gives Space Thruster Commercial Boost
The Cube Quest competition offered prizes to teams that completed objectives in designing, building, and delivering small satellites capable of advanced operations in deep space. As part of the challenge, Team Miles of Tampa, Florida, sent its CubeSat aboard 2022’s Artemis I flight test around the Moon. Since participating, Miles Space, Inc. was born out of the innovative spirit of Team Miles, with commercial developments stemming from technology advanced through the challenge.
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Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Stories
NASA Challenge Gives Space Thruster Commercial Boost
As part of the Cube Quest challenge, Team Miles sent its CubeSat aboard the Artemis I mission in 2022. Since participating, the company Miles Space was formed by some members of Team Miles.
Solver Spotlight: Shobhana Gupta
NASA scientist Shobhana Gupta manages crowdsourcing activities for the public and participates in challenges NASA runs for its workforce.
Going Beyond the Challenge for New and Continued Success
For many solvers, success doesn’t stop when the NASA challenge ends. Past participants have gone on to work with NASA in other ways and take their technology to new heights.
Solver Spotlight: Eric Hinterman
Eric Hinterman and his friends have collaborated on more than 30 government challenges over three years.
Solver Spotlight: Lauren Fell
Challenges often provide more than just monetary awards. Some have prompted many participants to develop skills outside their traditional domains. Just ask star solver Lauren Fell.
Citizen Science Stories
Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids
Volunteers from around the world known contributed to the identification of a largely unseen population of smaller asteroids.
A Solar Neighborhood Census, Thanks to NASA Citizen Science
Through Backyard Worlds, citizen scientists indicate whether objects in sets of images could be “nearby” by looking for movement of objects relative to the background.
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Past Publications
Open Innovation at NASA
Boosting NASA Higher, Faster, and Farther
Organizations across the globe harness the perspectives, expertise, and enthusiasm of “the crowd” outside their walls to reduce costs, accelerate projects, enhance creativity, and better engage stakeholders. NASA is doing the same, collaborating with diverse entities nationally and internationally. Read how open innovation projects from October 2020 to September 2022 advanced NASA’s mission and benefited participants.
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NASA's Open Innovation newsletter called the Solver Connection keeps you up to date quarterly with open opportunities, news, events, and more.
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