New solutions based on mobile technology are launched every day, but how do the developers know which services are the killer applications? The simplest way is to ask the users what they are looking for. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland rose to the challenge and set the target to collect 35 000 ideas for new mobile services from people in all age groups. After a month of brainstorming workshops the VTT Idea Movement reached its ambitious goal. Based on a sample analysis, 2000 ideas have been considered brilliant! Using the open innovation principles, VTT has now published all ideas for anybody's use in the Internet in the largest publicly accessible idea database in the world.

We have all been faced with situations where modern technology could have made life a lot easier, but the convenient application just had not been developed yet. Consumers are the most reliable and creative source of new product or service ideas, but their opinion is rarely heard despite their unbeatable user experience. Companies find it troublesome to contact end users to hear their views, whereas citizens do not have much confidence in getting their ideas noted. It is a real challenge to link the user knowledge with the right service providers in order to facilitate the rapid development of new technology applications to meet the end user demand.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland decided to tackle this problem in the value chain and act as a mediator to support new mobile service development. Launching a national project called the Idea Movement, VTT set the goal to collect at least 35 000 ideas for mobile applications straight from the citizens, and make these ideas accessible for everyone by publishing them in the Internet. Giving all companies, organisations, and individuals the opportunity to build on the ideas and wishes of thousands of people, VTT will accelerate the development and commercialisation of new mobile services. The idea database is a significant source for researchers as the origin of all ideas can be traced back yet preserving the anonymity of the idea generators. This information is not open for public but used in research projects around Europe.

Ideas were collected systematically in a number of workshops and events organised for different age groups all around Finland. Each workshop was kicked off with a short introduction to idea generation techniques, followed by brainstorming sessions both individually and in groups. Altogether 1410 people were contacted in 18 events or workshops. Majority of the participants were university students and schoolchildren, but workshops were also organised at workplaces and even in a shopping centre. Furthermore, there was a possibility to post ideas in the Idea Movement website, and about 200 people communicated their ideas in this way. Ideas are 1-2 sentence descriptions of a situation where a handheld wireless device such as a cell phone might be helpful, useful, informative or beneficial in any possible way.

In the beginning of the campaign, IPR issues first raised some questions among the research partners and in the Finnish media, but it was soon understood that there was no need to be concerned. The 35 000 ideas for new mobile services expressed by the citizens are far from well-defined business concepts ripe for commercialisation. The ideas still require a lot of further development and professional elaboration before they can be introduced to the market as products or services. VTT predicts that the actual value of these ideas is generated in the idea refinement phase where hundreds of ideas are combined and enriched through the conceptualisation process. This is a task reserved for companies and organisations with the ability to efficiently commercialise the services. Idea Movement, therefore, makes a link between the intellectual capital of ordinary citizens and the technology business know-how of the companies forming a win-win situation.