Over the last few years there have been a number of attempts to make funding innovative ideas a more fluid affair.  There are any number of platforms that offer inventors and entrepreneurs the chance to secure funding for their project for instance, whilst a number of organizations offer a range of internal venture capital projects, with employees able to back promising projects with either funding or virtual stock.

News from Sony earlier this month takes this trend down an interesting avenue.  They announced the launch of a new platform called ‘First Flight‘, which aims to help the company raise money for ideas generated by employees.

It differs from a traditional idea market however as the funding will come via customers and other outside sources.  People can order or pre-order potential products proposed by Sony employees, much as they would via Kickstarter et al.

I’ve written previously about the value in experimenting with ideas and testing them out in the marketplace.  The First Flight platform allows Sony to do that in a real life marketplace and get real time feedback from customers whilst the products are still in prototype stages.

“Sony’s innovation is ingrained in the company’s founding spirit of `doing what has never been done before.’ Nothing embodies this spirit more than passionate entrepreneurs who give shape to their ground-breaking ideas and introduce them to the world, without fear of failure. The First Flight platform and other Seed Acceleration Program initiatives accelerate and optimize this process. Sony itself originated as a start-up, and through the Seed Acceleration Program we are challenging ourselves to return to our entrepreneurial roots. At Sony we will continue to explore ways of delivering new, emotionally compelling experiences and enhanced customer value,” the company said at the launch.

The initial launch

The platform will make its debut with two new projects nurtured within the company.  The Mesh DIY Kit allows users to digitally customize their environment, whilst the FES e-paper smartwatch is also appearing on the platform.

The platform has been developed in a partnership with Yahoo! Japan, and therefore uses the payment technology developed by Yahoo!

It’s certainly an interesting development and could help Sony to adopt a much more experimental approach to new product development.  A venture well worth keeping an eye on.