A Problem Shared Is a Problem Solved: "Not so long ago, companies created departments to create innovation. But the result was often that innovation was turned into a state secret. The only people who knew what was going on—and therefore the only people who could really contribute—were the Chosen Ones inside the innovation department. Not surprisingly, this approach limits both the quantity and quality of ideas so companies have started to search for new ways of developing new ideas.

"One new idea is distributed or open source innovation in which customers (or anyone else for that matter) are the co-producers of the products and services they consume."