How does crowdsolving look in practice? It usually involves an organization asking an online audience to submit ideas, prototypes, or feedback in order to provoke innovation. LEGO IDEAS, a site where LEGO asks its followers to submit new product ideas, is a real-life example of crowdsolving.

Although it may first appear as if crowdsolving is predominantly a means for an organization to access new ideas, this is not true. There are, according to crowdsolving experts Abrahamson, Ryder, and Unterberg (Crowdstorm), five main objectives that crowdsolving can achieve...