Sun Microsystems launches first open innovation portal

Shared innovation, community development and open source leadership may soon become the mantra for societal development. Perhaps this dictum of Sun Microsystems with its Java technology, will soon pave way for those innovative ideas among younger brains to flash it on a portal.

Reaffirming its commitment to open source as a catalyst to encourage innovation in the country, the company launched the first ever open innovation portal. The portal, www.innovationcommons.org, aims to foster the development of participative innovation in society and to help transition the economy into an innovation economy.

Interestingly, Krishnakant Mane, a visually-challenged computer scientist entered the first idea into the portal today. The idea revolved around creation of a new device that would help the visually-challenged to have better access to print media. He used the

ORCA screen reader to enter his innovation. For starters, ORCA is a cutting edge open-source accessibility solution that was initiated by Sun Microsystems to help the differently-abled people to access computers.

It is an initiative by the Centre for Excellence in e-governance, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi, Sun Microsystems, Jawahar Lal Nehru University and Knowledge Commons.

Sun Microsystems country director Jaijit Bhattacharya also noted that ORCA could be easily used in India to help the illiterates access computers and e-governance solutions. "The Open Innovation Portal will be complimentary to the existing IPR framework and will cater to those innovations that come below the bar for a patent application and will cater to those innovators who cannot afford the patenting process. This is especially true in the emerging economies scenario where standalone innovators may or may not have the financial wherewithal to file the patent."

Joe Hartley, VP of Global Education, Government, and Healthcare, Sun Microsystems said, "Sun knows that communities drive innovation. The innovation portal therefore allows for collaboration between members of a society to foster innovation. This is in line with Sun's vision of the Participation Age where Sun believes the world has entered a new era where dramatically lowered barriers to entry, plummeting device prices, and near-universal connectivity are driving a new round of network participation. The growth in the network economy is fueled by sharing and collaboration among communities interconnected by technology and driven by purpose. Sun also believes that sharing and collaboration in the participation age will stimulate innovation to help all participants from across the world grow and prosper."