What technologies will crowdfunding create?
September 17, 2012
Inventor Jay Silver holds up a printed circuit board that turns ordinary objects into joystick controls. He raised more than $500,000 from the public to manufacture it. (Credit: MaKey MaKey)
Inventor Jay Silver, creator of MaKey MaKey, an “invention kit” consisting of a processor board and alligator clips that turns objects with high electrical resistance — bananas, Play-Doh, human flesh — into computer controllers, listed the project on Kickstarter this year hoping to raise $25,000.
He ended up with $568,106 from 11,124 people, Technology Review reports.
In the U.S., Internet funding occurs on Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and similar websites that permit people to donate money to projects, including films and journalism.
Crowdfunding is supporting inventions which might otherwise have limited economic prospects. …
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Comments (1)
by GatorALLin
This article should include http://www.kicksstarter.com the biggest one by far….and http://www.petridish.org and a few other good ones…
I think the banana example is a bit silly….
These websites are more than just money for people with a fun idea… they are also low/no cost marketing surveys. And they are ways to get good ideas to go viral at almost no cost.
these websites will bring ideas to market so much faster than big/slow companies can trapped in meetings about meetings ….. know that companies often have their own agenda that can be different than the best interest of the idea. Now anyone with a good idea can get funding and test out the idea before big money is spent.
If you believe the singularity is needing ideas to happen at an ever increasing rate, then the old system of good ideas has to change on a massive scale….. this is part of it…… and bigger part than most think.