Hollywood Model Could Create New Stars in R&D: Alice Schroeder
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June 29 (Bloomberg) -- How much should it cost the U.S. AirForce to develop a reliable system to detect sniper fire in afraction of a second and pinpoint the shooter’s location almostas fast? If you’re thinking millions of dollars, how does$50,000 sound? The Air Force is evaluating sniper-detectionproposals, and that’s how much it will award a researcher whoprovides a solution and the proof that it works.
That surprisingly low number is possible because of opensource innovation. It’s the hot trend in R&D, built on thesuccess of the open source software movement, itself built onthe principle that crowds can solve problems faster than anyindividual, or any single corporate lab, ever will.