Who Is in the Crowd? Characterizing the Capabilities of Prize Competition Competitors

Abstract

This article leverages a unique field experiment to characterize who in the crowd is willing and able to solve complex engineering design problems for the prospect of a prize. Contrary to popular skepticism, we find that the crowd is highly capable of not only providing quality point solutions but also contributing valuable engineering insight. However, although a diverse population of more than 9000 registrants showed initial interest in the competitions, of the 255 judgeable solutions received, the majority of good solutions came from solvers with prior within-discipline experience. Of those, more of the good solutions came from solvers who perceived the relevant problem as “at the boundary” of their expertise. This suggests that while complex engineering design problems do require some threshold of relevant training and skills, prize competitions still play an important role in attracting solvers who perceive themselves to be adjacent to the problem. Furthermore, the submissions revealed a role for solvers in the crowd in augmenting traditional concept generation and tradespace exploration processes, by leveraging the independence of solvers in the crowd. These findings contribute an empirical basis for resolving how and when the crowd can be used most effectively, as part of an innovation toolkit.