# National Science Foundation Grant Awarded to Professor Hila Lifshitz-Assaf to Support Research on Open Innovation

1 Research Highlights August 10, 2015 ![Hila Lifshitz-Assaf](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/hlifshitz-assaf_article.jpg?itok=pmlKmaYO)>

[Hila Lifshitz-Assaf](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/hila-lifshitzassaf), NYU Stern Assistant Professor of [Information, Operations and Management Sciences](/node/43671), and Zoe Szajnfarber, Assistant Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at George Washington University, were awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) INSPIRE grant, totaling just under $1 million, to support their research on open innovation.

This four-year grant will provide funding for the team’s “[INSPIRE: Expanding Open Innovation Methods to Complex Engineered Systems](http://www.scienceofsciencepolicy.net/award/inspire-expanding-open-innovation-methods-complex-engineered-systems)” project, which examines the implementation of open innovation methods – those that solicit external input through such means as prizes, challenges and crowdsourcing – to increasingly complex problems. The INSPIRE project will consider ways Research and Development (R&D) experts can organize current processes to optimize innovation. This research has a number of implications for firms and agencies seeking to organize their research enterprise and incentivize their employees.