WisconsInnovation

Dear White House: Please Tell us the Truth About E.T.
Petitioners Seek Everything From Boosting Raw Milk Sales to Legalizing Pot
By LAURA MECKLER

Check out the article above to see how our government is using the ideas of crowdsourcing to help determine what people really want.

People can submit petitions for anything they feel is a large issue of today. Petitions are asking for a large range of things from legalizing marijuana to finding out the truth about E.T. The government has posted about 200 of these petitions online for the public to view. It's interesting to see niche interests get attention this way. The White House intends to form a committee to evaluate each petition. Could this be a form of designing applied to government?

The US Department of Defense is know for, among other things, being a poor steward of taxpayer dollars. Remember the $1,000 toilet seat? Wary of these types of cost over-runs, the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) decided to try something a bit different by asking individuals, rather than corporations, to design its newest combat vehicle. Teaming up with  Local Motors, DAPRA sponsored a design competition open to anyone in the world. With a prize offering of $7,500 (about 8 toilet seats), this competition received over 150 design submissions. The winning design, the FLYPMode by Victor Garcia went from concept to prototype in less than six months! This is yet another example, of how innovation by individuals can meet or exceed the innovation by firms.