Under the contract Freelancer.com will help the US space agency NASA crowdsource talent to design innovative tools and technology for its new era of space exploration.

Freelancer.com says NASA has used open innovation, specifically in the form of public challenges since the launch of the Centennial Challenges Program in 2005 - and since 2011, NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) has been working to mature its experience primarily focused on the use of procurement-based public challenges.

Steven N. Rader, Deputy Manager of NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI), said, “Crowdsourcing is a very good tool for public engagement with NASA”.

“Our approach with NOIS2 is designed to encourage the crowd to work on some of NASA’s most compelling matters, making them feel they are a part of the mission. We want to tap into the diverse talents available around the world, made possible through crowdsourcing.”

Under NOIS2, NASA aims to further:

Crowd-based Challenges and Prize Competitions: competition-based activities that use a focused problem-statement approach and crowdsourcing, rather than specifically identified individuals or groups, to obtain solutions and/or stimulate innovation.

Crowd-based Freelance Projects: the process to select and manage individuals, teams, and/or talent pools (members of the crowd/community) best equipped to work on and deliver solutions and/or stimulate innovation.

Crowd-based Micro-task and/or Freelance work: the process of splitting a large job into small tasks that can be distributed, over the internet, to many people (members of the crowd/community).

Other Crowd-Based Methods: other crowdsourcing-based methods not covered above that would provide solution(s) or stimulate innovation.

Matt Barrie, Chief Executive of Freelancer Limited said “I am excited to deepen our relationship with the NASA and the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation”.

“We have been working together since 2015 to solve a range of complex problems being faced by astronauts on the cutting edge of space exploration. Today, we will be taking this to the next level, and there is no higher honor than to be able to support the United States space program”.