The prize for innovations created through the power of the crowd was awarded in three categories: Open.Innovation, Innovation.Funding and Corporate.Innovation. Numerous projects from Germany, Austria and Switzerland applied for the coveted trophies. Three per category were awarded prizes.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Ö1 Club, the "Ö1 Open Lab" innovation lab was launched to harness the ideas and knowledge of the 52,000 Ö1 Club members. Over 200 ideas were submitted, including program ideas, newsletters on various topics and suggestions for improving existing Ö1 programs. A jury of experts selected several ideas, which were then further developed in a prototyping workshop. The Ö1 Club members finally decided on the idea "Meine Woche mit Ö1″ as the winning project. In addition, Ö1 listeners were able to give broadcast tips in the Ö1 Open Lab, which were presented weekly in the Ö1 Newsletter.
The Ö1 Open Lab idea, which involved the crowd for program and product improvement, achieved mixed reviews. Although strong crowd participation was noted, there were no concrete economic or environmental benefits so far.
Nevertheless, the jurors praised the initiative as a good example of crowd mobilization and community empowerment. The potential of the crowdsourcing approach was recognized, even if the economic and environmental impact is not yet clear.
The crowd powered innovation award is an initiative of the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) Crowd in Motion and the Fraunhofer-Zentrum für Internationales Management und Wissensökonomie (IMW) in Leipzig, Germany.
Impressions of the award ceremony and the isn celebrates 20 + 2 years event were captured in the highlight video of the event.