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To come up with their best new ideas, most companies turn to an inexpensive and efficient source of innovation: their own employees. How can you unleash the creative spirit lurking in your workforce? Here are eight of the best strategies we’ve uncovered in recent months. 1. Let Every Employee Play Designer . Three years ago, the five-person research and development team at pet-accessory company West Paw Design had a case of collective writer’s block. A production manager named Seth Partain proposed holding a contest for the company’s three-dozen employees. Everyone from salespeople to seamstresses were encouraged to spend an afternoon designing and producing prototypes for new products. Following an end-of-day vote, a winner was crowned at an award ceremony. By making employees feel a part of the idea-creation process, West Paw Design set up a new

Who knew the Peace Corps were web developers? Certain African farmers did anyway. Now, with their AfricaRuralConnect project the recipient of an Interactive Media Council Outstanding Achievement Award , a lot more people know it too. ARC is a product of the National Peace Corps Association and provides a platform for Africans in the business of agriculture and those interested in African agricultural issues to present, hear and remix each others’ ideas. Sponsor The site is built on Wegora , “a collaborative writing platform with an integrated semantic analytics engine.” The site solicits ideas, community members remix them, improving them, commenting or questioning them, endorsing them. These remixes are portable and follow both the original idea and the remixer’s profile through the site. The conversations that ensue resemble nothing so much as a bunch of entrepreneurs networking and workshopping their ideas. Those who suggest the ideas that win a given round, based on the number of endorsements they get, receive prizes. The grand prize is $12,000. This year’s ARC contest goes through the month of November. “Prizes will be awarded to ideas considered the most original, creative, practical, scalable, and likely to succeed and offer the greatest improvements in the lives of small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Molly Mattessich, manager of online initiatives for the NPCA, a group and herself a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali. “We hope this recognition will draw even more people to the site to submit their ideas and engage in a discussion on how to help rural Africa.” Current ideas include “Fusing Sports (Football) with Rabbit and Bee Commercial Farming for Youth Development and Wealth Creation in Murang’a South,” “Using Biogas to Change Rural Lives” and “Fuel Energy from Agricultural Waste.” Discuss

The Molly Desk belongs to  Toby Howes and we can’t really make up our minds whether this is a writing desk, a coffee table or both. This is naturally a good thing in the world of design,where hidden functionality is sometimes a must. The British designer came up with this original concept for a client with a strong passion for 1950’s furniture. Toby says his client  “wanted a desk that combined a light, suspended-in-air feel with the utilitarianism of the time.”  He also stated that the Molly Desk “contrasts light and dark, straight lines and curves, intricate construction with simple style and luxurious materials with sparse design.” We sure enjoy seeing unconventional furniture like this and salute the designers who do their best in coming up with original works.

Snurk Bedding came up with an unconventional and bold bedding collection. White Laundry series are seemingly normal white sheets, but at a closer look an extra treat is revealed. Casually throwing clothing items on beds is very common. However, in the case of Snurk Bedding this led to a fun design idea. The collection features a total of five different clothing products: a robe, a shirt, a bra, a pair of socks and a thong. The sets are 100% cotton which means durability and quality. We imagine comfort was not left behind either. By the way, “snurk” is Dutch for “snoring”. We don’t know how many of our readers would go for such a crazy design, but the idea is definitely worth showing off.-via Stilsucht

Imitating a party unstuck roll, Wallpaper from Vincent Olm is a functional reinterpretation of what is basically a purely decorative object. Shelf or console, depending on which way it is attached to the wall, wallpaper aims to create a surprising illusion. Made of a composure of aluminum and polyethylene, it is both rigid and light. Created in several solid colors, Wallpaper can be used as it is or can be personalized by the owner to suit their taste by adding wall stickers or covering it in a strip that matches the wallpaper against which it is hung.