Regular readers of this blog know that we’re fans of James Surowiecki and the popularization of the concept of crowdsourcing. And as creators of an innovation management platform—Foresight—we also monitor rich sources of innovation like TED. This year, Chris Anderson introduced us to the concept of crowd accelerated innovation.

Seth Godin has nicely summarized and extended the thesis of Chris’s talk:

The idea is one of those big ones, a simple one that will stick with you for a long time… Online video radically changes the reach and speed of the improvement cycle. Things like dance, snowboarding and TED talks keep getting better, and faster, because artists see the best and improve on it. Even more than that, it requires you to top what’s out there, or you’ll be ignored.

Now it’s our turn because we have a slightly different take. Chris’s talk focuses on how web video is accelerating the interpretive and creative process for people the world over. His examples are strong enough that we’re inclined to agree, but it’s not just video; it’s ideas. YouTube provided a remarkable interactive market for web video. Uploading and viewing were just the beginning. Now video is being recut, reedited, and remixed to create new movie trailers, music videos, and tutorials.

Our Foresight platform provides the same, fully participatory experience for our customers who leverage it. The crowds of employees who become participants in our customers’ markets are getting better at their jobs, sometimes because of the extent of web video. They’re digesting and communicating ideas all the time. And there’s no way that a single manager or even a top management team can possibly distill from the creative energy the best ideas with enough guidance to know what’s best, when it should be applied, and how soon it will work without help. Foresight is that help. It’s an example of managed crowd accelerated innovation.

After you’ve honed your dance skills from YouTube (in your office with the door closed, presumably) and you want to accelerate innovation in the enterprise, you’ll want to contact us.

Ingenix, a Consensus Point partner, recognizes how important the power of collective intelligence can be in healthcare. With the Ingenix Prediction Market, Ingenix is helping employers optimize how healthcare dollars get spent. The end result is more profitable companies with healthier, happier employees.

Ingenix also offers a variety of solutions directly to physicians. We wouldn’t be surprised to see collective intelligence solutions from Consensus Point helping Ingenix empower doctors as well as employers.

Last week, Jonathan Bush, CEO of Athenahealth, a physician billing and practice management firm, was interviewed in the Wall Street Journal. In a wide-ranging interview covering various dimensions of healthcare policy and the ramifications from technology and innovation, this stood out to us:

Mr. Bush thinks the main benefit is the “collective intelligence” that he is starting to weave together from the 87% of American physicians who practice solo or in groups of five doctors or fewer.

Time and again the wisdom of crowds has proven valuable and most times more accurate than a single SME. Applying prediction markets in healthcare can yield benefits for policy and delivery of services.

For more on the Ingenix Prediction Market and Ingenix solutions, go to www.ingenix.com/informationis.