Planet under Pressure

Crowdsourcing discovers the
“wisdom of many”
Crowdsourcing is an innovative way to
create solutions to problems by asking
participants from all over the world for
their input in an idea competition. This
is done with an internet platform where
people can register as problem-solvers.
The problems are described by the respective
companies and the requirements and
limitations for valid solutions are stated
in a so-called challenge. The problemsolver
can hand in their ideas, which are
then evaluated by the platform provider
and the company looking for a solution.
The best ideas are awarded a prize.
The advantage of using an established
crowdsourcing platform is that the community
of registered problem-solvers of
the platform is addressed, and anyone in
the world with internet access can join
the challenge as well. Registered users log
in as experts for a certain field, allowing
the crowdsourcing provider to forward
their challenges to the relevant users.
However, addressing non-experts via
social media is also an option and opens
the challenge up to an even broader
audience.
The K+S Brine Challenge as an enabler
for sustainable innovation
Usually, crowdsourcing covers a broad
variety of technical problems. The idea
is to find solutions for defined problems.
Today, crowdsourcing is used more and
more to address environmental and sustainability
issues in addition to technical
questions. To approach the issue of
minimizing brine formation from the
BRINE CHALLENGE IN A NUTSHELL
9
months
18
K+S departments
2
external jurors
tailings piles, K+S combined a technical
with an environmental question in the
Brine Challenge crowdsourcing project.
The challenge went as follows:
1. Raising the question: The K+S Brine
Challenge crowdsourcing project focused
on “How can K+S reduce the
brine formation at the tailings piles?”
2. Defining the challenge: The challenge
had to be defined with a short and
clear description of the background
that covered technical facts such as
the height, composition, and location
of the tailings piles. Apart from
the technical facts, the problem itself
– rainfall leading to the solution of
salt, creating brine that needs to be
disposed of – had to be an essential
part of the challenge description.
3. Informing on the state of science:
Since several technical solutions for
covering tailings piles already existed
and the aim of the Brine Challenge
was to create new solutions, these
current methods were added to the
background information of the challenge.
Solutions for the problem that
had been tested before, but had failed,
were described in the background
information to prevent solution providers
from turning in similar ideas.
The contents for the challenge were
developed together with different
teams of K+S and the crowdsourcing
provider.
4. Setting up an online platform: The
challenge was set up on a microsite
on the crowdsourcing platform and
made accessible to the public over a
44
ideas
12
countries
2
winners
period of three months. The participants
had access to the background
information and were able to create
a draft for their solution. A midterm
Q&A session with K+S experts gave the
participants the chance to ask specific
questions for additional background
information.
5. Evaluating the ideas: After the challenge
was closed, the submitted solutions
first went through a compliance
check by the crowdsourcing provider.
The ideas were then evaluated by K+S
experts and finally by a jury of K+S
experts and two university professors.
44 ideas and two promising
solutions
A total of 44 ideas were submitted for
the Brine Challenge, offering a wide variety
of solutions. Covering tailings piles
is a topic that requires a lot of insight
into topics such as geology, construction,
materials, processes, and biology,
so finding a solution is quite difficult.
Because of the complexity, none of the
submitted ideas proposed a totally new
and viable covering system, mainly due
to technical limitations.
However, two ideas were identified as
having the potential to improve the
already existing covering systems. So
the Brine Challenge was able to verify
that the current systems in place are
state of the art. The two winning ideas
will continue to be tested to see if the
incorporation into any of the existing
covering systems is technically and economically
feasible.
This project showed that by combining
company knowledge with crowd intelligence,
new ideas that might improve
existing processes are generated. By using
a crowdsourcing approach for environmental
issues, companies are able to
raise awareness of different challenges,
thereby creating support for existing
solutions to problems and, in the best
case, being able to create new technologies
for a better future.
Global Goals Yearbook 2020 115