Feel inventy and collaborative today? If you have awesome ideas for innovative, eco-efficient products it’s time for action. While climate gurus debate a greener world in Copenhagen these weeks Quirky walks the talk. During the summit, you can submit your wildest, sustainable product ideas to the site – without the usual fee of 99 USD.

Or you can discuss or vote others’ eco-effective ideas closer to production. Even improve them to gain co-ownership. Unlike other community-based idea sites, such as Dell’s ideastorm or Starbucks’ mystarbucksidea Quirky shares profits with you if your product vision makes it to production. 12 cents in your pocket for every dollar your product makes.

So, what are you waiting for? Experience the power of co-creation and crowd-sourcing before you try it out in your own business.

Our friends at the Acumen Fund have asked us to help spread the word about a different approach to tackling poverty and building sustainable growth at the base of the pyramid – so that’s what we do! Watch this 90-second video that tells the Acumen Fund story and their take on fighting poverty. If nothing else, you’ll love their simple, inspiring and effective communication.

The balance between efficiency and creativity doesn’t come easy. Creating a corporate innovation culture takes time, focus, and talent. Killing it doesn’t. Most companies know that by experience. Even the ones with lots of innovation mojo can loose it when creativity  is over-managed.

No doubt, creative processes can be optimised significantly by lean-thinking. Only problem is that creative processes – to some extent – are expected to produce unexpected output aka innovations or inventions.  So if you apply e.g. Six Sigma in the design lab, in the exact same way as in the logistics department or in manufacturing – what do you think will happen?

Business Week’s 3M’s Innovation Crisis makes some real good points on the art of managing innovation and creation – without loosing it. Worth spending a couple of minutes on.