I’ve been noticing a recent competition tech trend in business and government lately. The first contest that caught my attention was by Netflix, a three-year contest to improve its Web site’s movie recommendation system with a payout of $1 million dollars. I can see a company like Netflix offering a contest like this for multiple reasons, number one for low risk technical improvements. Let’s think about it, if after this three year period no team can improve the current recommendation system (which is a very sophisticated algorithm taking into consideration over 100 million movie ratings) it costs Netflix nothing and they still succeed by fostering innovation in their industry and the internet era.

My next example is a $10 million dollar government competition called the L-Prize is hosted by the Deptartment of Energy. This competition is to create the next generation of light bulbs. The money will go to the company that creates a viable solid-state LED replacement for the standard 60-watt incandescent bulb.

WIth these two as recent examples it makes me think that we will be seeing competitions like this popping up with some frequency, more so on a smaller scale. I foresee small to mid-size companies replicating these competitions trying to build buzz for their brands while simutaneously fostering nearly risk-free innovation in their industries.

Google’s is releasing Chrome as an open source project which in my eyes is to deter monopoly accusations. That being my main area of concern, Google already owns a good portion of what goes on inside the browser and now they take that next step of controlling the browsing experience as well. It is also clearly another stab at Microsoft and Internet Explorer as these two 800 pound gorillas battle it out as internet super powers. Not to also mention this may be Google’s way of getting back at Microsoft their attempts to leverage their monopoly in promoting MSN Search over Google.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Google and their innovations, but myself, like many users, are completely dependent upon Google(whether we admit it or not). Now giving Google that extra piece of the pie could be too much? My fear is that Google will use the Chrome just as Microsoft used its monopoly power in operating systems to force Internet Explorer on the millions of PCs.  Before you know it each time you log into your gmail, google docs, google calendar, etc. you will be “suggested” to download Chrome completely destroying the innovators of web browsers like Firefox and Safari(two web browsers completely ahead of the curve compared to Internet Explorer) who have set the standards for years.

Another interesting tidbit about MTDN is the third co-founder is Jon’s daughter, Jessica Biel. Jessica(Jessie to MTDN) you most likely will know as a famous actress. I have learned that beyond acting Jessie is a major philanthropist at heart and I wish the best of luck to her and all involved in MTDN.