FAQ
- What is this platform about?
- How do I create an idea?
- How can I participate in a challenge?
- Can I change the idea status from public to private again?
- How can I add files (e.g. images, videos, PDFs, etc.) to my idea?
- How does the level system work?
- Why is my idea limited to 1000 characters?
- Why don't you limit the number of entries per person for a challenge?
- Are my ideas safe on this platform?
- Who has the rights to the generated ideas?
- What do I get for my ideas?
- Are there any terms and conditions for participating in challenges?
- What constitutes a good idea on this platform?
- What are the different phases of a challenge?
- What is the Arena and how does it work?
- Why do I have to choose one of the ideas, even if I don't like either of them?
- What are the criteria for the evaluation of ideas?
- What do I get out of voting on other people’s ideas?
- If I contribute with feedback to an idea and the idea wins the challenge – how do I benefit?
- What happens at the end of a challenge?
- What is the Brainstormer and how does it work?
- Who's the "Guest" user?
- Who is the Ideacoach?
What is this platform about?
This platform is an idea platform that enables you to individually or collectively create, manage and publish ideas, and to submit them to challenges. Creative brains and idea seekers are linked on this platform. You can establish your own network and can get in contact with other users in order to realise your ideas. Via an intelligent level system you become more visible to other users. Furthermore you can participate in challenges and earn prizes (depending on the challenge) with your ideas.
How do I create an idea?
Click on the drop-down-menu in your area and select "My Ideas" and then "Create New Idea". In case you would like to join a challenge click on "Join!" on the challenge's details page. Or you can use the new "Create idea" button on the right side of the screen (light bulb with a plus).
Use the idea-board and the corresponding text fields for description. You can access the drawing board by clicking onto “Visualize your idea”. You can also use the file-upload to attach pictures or textfiles to your idea.
Via the visibility settings you can choose who is allowed to see your idea and give feedback. If you are still working on your idea and you want nobody else to see it, select the option "Only me".
How can I participate in a challenge?
In order to take part in a challenge you have to be registered. Then you can create ideas in your area (via the menu item “My Ideas”) or by clicking onto "Join!" (via the challenge description for instance). Then publish your ideas into the Idea Pool to receive some feedback (by clicking onto "Get Feedback") or submit them directly, in case you do not need feedback. You can also create a new idea and then select the context you want to participate in with your idea. In order to participate in an idea challenge, you will have to accept the terms and conditions and set the visibility of your idea such that at least the moderator can see your idea.
Attention:
Private ideas will not take part in the voting phase - they are only visible for you.
After the voting phase (by the community and/or jury), all submitted ideas reappear as feedback ideas in the Idea Pool. If you do not want your idea to be in the Idea Pool, you can immediately set the visibility to "Only me".
Can I change the idea status from public to private again?
Yes, you decide who is allowed to see your ideas and when your idea should be visible to others. You can change the visibility status of your idea in the detail view of your idea. Click "Change" on the box "Who can see this idea?".
How can I add files (e.g. images, videos, PDFs, etc.) to my idea?
In order to add a file you will have to follow these steps:
- Create a new idea or edit an existing idea
- Scroll down to the section "Files" and click the button "Durchsuchen"
- Select the file you want to attach to your idea
- Click "Upload" to attach the file to your idea
How does the level system work?
The level shows the performance of a user on the platform. Every action is rewarded with a certain amount of points. These points are split up into Activity, Creativity and Trust. Depending on the action, the user will get points in different areas. The user will ascend to the next level if he reaches a certain threshold in all three areas. The higher the level of the user, the more visible the user will be to the Community as "Creative of the week" or in the "Top 10 creatives".
Important: It is possible to have more points than another user without being on a higher level. This means that the user has to use all features on the platform well-balanced to reach the next level. The only points that can be triggered by the user himself are the Activity-points. Creativity- and Trust-points are only available through interaction with other users and ideas.
3 bars
In the activity feed in the "My Area"-section all points are shown. The activity feed and the progress bars are only visible to the user himself. The level 
and the sum of all points 
are visible to other users as well. Those bars 
visualize the progress of the user in the following three areas:
- Activity:Activity-points describe the frequency of all interactions of the user on the platform. They are are triggered through any action on the platform, e.g. login, voting, providing feedback etc.
- Creativity:Creativity-points describe the quality of the ideas and the users' feedback to other ideas. They are triggered through creating, discussing and voting, e.g. providing feedback, receiving positive evaluations of other users etc.
- Trust: Trust-points describe the quality of the user's interaction with other users and ideas. They are triggered through valuable, objective and useful actions of the user, e.g. accepted feedback, accepted network-request etc.
The user will ascend to the next level if he reaches a certain threshold in all three areas 
. There are two numbers listed e.g. 2/11. The left number (e.g. 2) shows the amount of points a user has collected in the specific area. The right number (e.g. 11) indicates the target amount i.e. the amount of points that is needed to ascend to the next level.
It is possible to lose points and descend from a level by cancelling or recalling actions (such as deleting an idea or cancel a network request). In this case the points the user earned before will be deducted from the respective areas.
Why is my idea limited to 1000 characters?
We defined an idea as a "Flash of inspriration". That means, an idea doesn't need to be fully elaborated. With 1000 characters your idea is easily comprehesible, people can add feedback to it and evaluate the idea in the Arena. If you still want to give more details, you can upload pictures and PDFs on the Ideaboard.
Why don't you limit the number of entries per person for a challenge?
We never limit the number of entries a user can submit. We believe any idea should have the right to be discussed or evaluated. With our evaluation process our users can rank the ideas in order of their preference.
Are my ideas safe on this platform?
You decide what happens to your ideas. If the status of your idea is "private" no one but you will have access to it. If your idea is "public" in the Idea Pool, other creatives will be able to see your idea and provide feedback to it. You have also the possibility to directly "submit" your idea to a challenge if you wish. Please notice that nobody will be able to provide feedback in that case. Here you receive further information on how you can participate.
Who has the rights to the generated ideas?
In general your idea belongs to you. If you enter your idea in a challenge, the rights associated with your idea are only passed on to the presenter of the challenge if you get the corresponding remuneration. Possible rights of exploitation will be defined outside the platform with the host of the challenge. See also in the terms and conditions No. 8
What do I get for my ideas?
Depending on the challenge, the best ideas are awarded with renumerations. Furthermore, every user earns points by participating in challenges and possible rewards.
If you compare ideas objectively and in a fair way, other users will do so, too. Your submitted idea will be viewed and compared as often as all other ideas in the system. The more users vote, the more accurate and fair the result will be. For each battle you participate in you get points and therefore increase your level; this makes you more visible on the platform and increases the importance of your vote. You not only receive points for voting, but you also earn creativity points if your idea wins a battle. If your idea wins the competition you will receive some bonus points in addition to the prize. If an idea you voted for wins the competition, you will receive trust points.
Are there any terms and conditions for participating in challenges?
You can find the terms and conditions on the left-hand side on the respective challenge page.
What constitutes a good idea on this platform?
A good idea has a meaningful title and a clear and brief description. If possible and/or necessary, you should use the drawing board (Ideaboard) in order to draft your idea or to upload videos, pictures and audios. It is not necessary to publish final concepts of an idea or submission - sometimes an idea can be just a great thought. It always depends on you and how much time you would like to invest. In some challenges there will be a concept phase in order to work on your idea in more detail.
What are the different phases of a challenge?
So that you all have equal chances and enough time to perfect your ideas as well as to evaluate others, we have divided all of our challenges into phases. The order and the types of phases depend on the challenge.
On the contest page the process bar shows the current phase of the challenge.
The different types of phases are:
Feedback- and Submission Phase:
During the Feedback- and Submission Phase you can enter a challenge by creating and submitting an idea. By creating an idea for feedback, other users can give you input so that you can work on your idea until the end of this phase to make it perfect. This idea will be automatically submitted for evaluation at the end of the phase. If you decide to do a direct submission, other users cannot see your idea until the beginning of the Voting Phase.
Important: You can also publish ideas independent to the currently running contest(s) in the Idea Pool to discuss that ideas with other users - this is an idea platform to manage and store all your ideas!
Community and Jury Voting (Voting Phase)
During the Community Voting Phase, the arena is active and two ideas are compared at a time. This procedure allows a fair and objective ranking of the submitted ideas. According to the voting a certain number of ideas will proceed to the next phase -- this phase a jury might evaluate the remaining ideas. Participation in the voting is open to any user. You earn points by active participation, but also if other users vote for your idea.
During the Jury Voting Phase the jury compares all ideas that have completed the previous phase, in some cases even all ideas submitted to the challenge. At the end of the Jury Voting Phase the winner(s) will be announced.
Some challenges might have a concept phase. During the concept phase owners from are already preselected ideas asked to describe their ideas more accurately. Then the final concepts can be compared in a following evaluation phase.
What is the Arena and how does it work?
In the Arena two entries of a competition will always be up against each other. In one round, there are 5 battles that must be challenged.
Based on the principles of paired comparison, ideas can be compared quickly, objectively and in a fair way. You cannot rate your own ideas. The ideas are chosen randomly from the Idea Pool and compared in pairs. One battle lasts five rounds, which means that the user decides on five out of ten ideas. Every user can participate in as many battles as he or she likes. The system guarantees that all ideas are compared under the same conditions, e.g. every idea is compared as often as the other ones. Through various comparisons by different users a ranking will result. This ranking is based on how many battles an idea won and lost. When the community voting is over, a ranking will be published. If there is a jury voting afterwards, the final winner will be announced later. In the jury or expert voting, a certain amount of the highest-rated ideas from the community voting will be compared again by a jury according to certain requirements. The winner will be announced at the end.
Steps of evaluation:
- In the paired comparison you will see two ideas at the same time. The visible ideas are randomly chosen from the Ideapool and displayed anonymously. All ideas are equaly often compared. Thus, all ideas have the same preconditions for the evaluation.
- After you accurately read through the ideas you can decide which idea you prefer within the specific context. You can repeat this process as often you like.
- Through various comparisons by different users a ranking will result. This ranking is based on how many battles an idea won and lost.
- After the community voting there might be a jury voting. In the jury or expert voting, a certain amount of the highest-rated ideas from the community voting will be compared again by a jury according to the clients’ requirements. The winner will be announced at the end.
Why do I have to choose one of the ideas, even if I don't like either of them?
Of course it is more difficult to choose between two ideas you don't like. We think the outcome of the challenge in pairs should be completely objective. Choosing one of the ideas doesn't make it the best idea - for you it's just better than the other one.
What are the criteria for the evaluation of ideas?
Criteria may vary depending on the challenge. However, in general we pay attention to feasibility, degree of novelty and the elaboration of the idea description.
What do I get out of voting on other people’s ideas?
If you compare ideas objectively and in a fair way, other users will do so, too. Your submitted idea will be viewed and compared as often as all other ideas in the system. The more users vote, the more accurate and fair the result will be. For each battle you participate in you get points and therefore increase your level; this makes you more visible on the platform and increases the importance of your vote. You not only receive points for voting, but you also earn creativity points if your idea wins a battle. If your idea wins the challenge you will receive some bonus points in addition to the prize. If an idea you voted for wins the challenge, you will receive trust points.
If I contribute with feedback to an idea and the idea wins the challenge – how do I benefit?
In general we support ideas that have been developed collaboratively. Therefore we remunerate valuable feedback. If you have clearly contributed with your feedback to a winning idea the prize money is shared accordingly.
What happens at the end of a challenge?
After all ideas are evaluated, the owners of the best ideas will be informed and awarded the offered prizes. Whether the ideas are realised is left to the discretion of the respective presenter of the challenge.
What is the Brainstormer and how does it work?
The Neurovation Brainstormer is a simple and quick brainstorming tool which you can use with your friends. You can start a brainstorming by clicking onto "My Brainstormings" in your profile dropdown. Just enter a question, click on "Start Brainstorming" and invite your friends and/or other platform users.
The concept of it is as simple:
There are two separated phase: Find ideas and sort and rate on ideas.
The defined rules for a brainstorming:
- Focus on quantity
- Withhold criticism
- Welcome unusual ideas
- Combine and improve ideas
Further details:Wikipedia
In general participants of a brainstorming meet in a room at the same time and somebody takes notes of all ideas.
The advantages of the Brainstormer:
With the Brainstormer it is not necessary to meet in person. It overcomes time and distance. Everybody can start a brainstorming, invite friends or other platform users and receive ideas directly on his computer. This can happen immediately, in case the invited people are online, or later on.
The Brainstormer shall not replace the conventional brainstorming. It is a tool which shall support the solution finding process without much pre- and post-editing. This tool has the main advantages of the "analogue" brainstorming such as receiving many ideas to a specific question in an easy, fast and cheap way. The collected ideas can be then easily further developed.
Furthermore this tool reduces all the disadvantages of brainstorming - there is no distraction, not much effort to filter the best ideas and no discussion on who had a specific idea in the first place.
So, what are you waiting for? Start your first brainstorming now.
Who's the "Guest" user?
Naturally it can happen that users decide to delete their accounts. When an account is deleted, all its data except data made public (e.g. ideas, submissions, feedback, etc.) will be deleted. This data will be displayed under the user-synonym "guest".
Who is the Ideacoach?
| Name | Mitch Buchannon, Ideacoach |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 17. July 1952 |
| Interests | Swimming, Ideas |
| (Any similarity with alive or fictive people is just a coincidence ;)) | |
| Mission | To provide this platform as the perfect place for your ideas |
The Ideacoach is your first network contact on this platform. He shall support you with the first steps, with creating ideas and improving your performance.
He is the main user of the Neurovation.net-Team. We wanted to provide one direct communication channel for our users, not several channels for every responsibility. Therefore we decided to create one user: Your Ideacoach. We chose a male avatar even though the Neurovation.net-Team consists of female and male creative brains. Your questions and feedback will be always directed to the responsible employee who will answer them as soon as possible. And why is he called Mitch? To be honest: We thought it is going to be funny ;)
