IdeaScale
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines for companies and organizations. (May 2017) |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Innovation Management Software |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Berkeley, CA, United States and Washington, DC, United States |
Key people | Robert M. Hoehn, CEO |
| Products | IdeaScale |
| Website | ideascale.com |
IdeaScale is the largest[1] cloud-based innovation software platform in the world with more than 25,000 customers and 4.5 million users. The software allows organizations to involve the opinions of public and private communities by collecting their ideas and giving users a platform to vote. The ideas are then evaluated, routed, and implemented, making IdeaScale the engine of crowd-powered innovation. IdeaScale’s client roster includes, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Doctors Without Borders, Freddie Mac, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, NASA, the United Way, the US Air Force, and many others. The company was founded by Vivek Bhaskaran[2] and Rob Hoeh in Seattle.[3]
As of 2018, IdeaScale is headquartered in Berkeley, CA.[4]
History
In 2008, the IdeaScale service was first offered.[5] In 2009, Rob Hoehn enhanced the service to further address opportunities he cited in both government and the private sector to solicit ideas, feedback, and priorities.[6] It launched in tandem with President Barack Obama’s Open Government Initiative.[7] In its first year, IdeaScale was adopted by 23 federal agencies. It served many organizations, including the Executive Office of the President of the United States.[8]
The following year, the platform’s adoption rate expanded to include more than 36 agencies as well as numerous private Enterprise-level companies. Government clients cited IdeaScale’s “level of engagement as well as the platform’s affordability” as one of the reasons that it was adopted early on in the open government initiative.[9] Since then, the platform has been used by numerous government organizations from the federal to the local level and was even used by the New York City Police Department to gather feedback and quality of life priorities from citizens.[10]
As of 2014, IdeaScale had close to 4 million members and over 25,000 communities.[11] The company is privately held. It was bootstrapped without venture capital funding and has become profitable.[12] IdeaScale was also ranked #513 on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies.[13] and acquired Ideavibes as part of its continued growth.[14] In 2016, IdeaScale acquired Innovationmanagement.se[15]
Features
Users create a profile on IdeaScale and once they are members of a community, they can submit ideas, comment and vote on other ideas, and the most popular ideas are prioritized at the top based on the number of votes the idea receives.[16] Once a promising idea has been identified, the software allows teams to form around the idea. The team can add more information to the idea, refine it, propose it to leadership and the best ones are selected using sophisticated decision matrix capabilities.[17]
The company uses the freemium model of engagement, offering free communities on an open basis and additional, customized functionality to paying clients.[18]
Notable awards
 |
- Acquired Ideavibes in 2014 and InnovationManagement.se in 2016 and Betterific[19] in 2020
- Five-time winner on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies
- #36 on the San Francisco Bay Area’s List of Fastest Growing Companies
- One of the first customers was Barack Obama’s White House
Notes
- ^ IdeaScale. "IdeaScale Acquires Betterific, Offering Comprehensive Internal and External Open Innovation Capabilities". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
- ^ Gregory T Huang. "IdeaScale Used for 24 Government Sites".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Brier Dudley (Jan 20, 2010). "Seattle's IdeaScale tapped for Obama feedback effort". Seattle Times. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
- ^ Procter, Richard. "IdeaScale's crowdsourcing platform lets customers give rich feedback to businesses, governments". San Francisco Business Times. San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
- ^ Crowdsourcing Launch for Survey Analytics at Daily Research News Online, Sept. 30, 2008
- ^ Hampton, Adriel (September 8, 2010). "Crowdsourcing, ideas and innovation in government". GovFresh. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ Herman, Justin (September 15, 2011). "OpenGov Citizen Engagement Tool: Frequently Asked Questions for Federal Agencies". HowTo.gov. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ Rao, Leena (February 7, 2010). "IdeaScale Powers 23 Crowdsourcing Sites For The U.S. Government". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ Caine, Cristina (December 15, 2010). "Uncle Sam Wants You! – Crowdsourcing Now". Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/nyregion/nypd-to-use-social-media-platform-to-address-quality-of-life-issues.html
- ^ IdeaScale. "About IdeaScale". IdeaScale. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ Venge, Brian (January 19, 2011). "SBK020 Are You Listening to Your Customers?". Small Biz Kaizen. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ "IdeaScale". Inc. Inc. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ Bronwen, Morgan. "IdeaScale acquires crowdsourcing platform provider". Research Live. Research Live. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ideascale-acquires-innovationmanagementse-to-enhance-comprehensive-innovation-offering-300217794.html
- ^ Miles, Stephanie (October 4, 2010). "IdeaScale – Empower Your Customers". AppVita. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ "IdeaScale Launches Idea Incubation". Crowdsourcing.org. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ IdeaScale. "IdeaScale Pricing & Signup". IdeaScale. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
- ^ Dornbusch, Friedrich (2016-01-01). "Track S. Innovationmanagement in Medical Engineering & Scientific Writing". Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik. 61 (s1). doi:10.1515/bmt-2016-5017. ISSN 1862-278X.