InnoCentive Recognizes Seventeen Innovators From Around the Globe as 2008 Top Solvers

Experts Honored for Most Prize Money Won and Number of Challenges Solved
WALTHAM, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
InnoCentive, Inc., the global open innovation marketplace, today announced the
17 winners of its annual Top Solver awards for Challenges solved in 2008. To
qualify as a Top Solver, these Solvers had to win two or more Challenges and/or
win $50,000 USD or more in awards. This year`s Top Solvers come from eight
countries with a majority representation from the U.S.A. and Russia. Challenges
solved in 2008 varied within a range of subjects - from baby cleansers and the
protection of crops to viral marketing ideas and the reduction of the spread of
malaria. 2008 was a record year for InnoCentive, with a 72% increase over 2007
in Challenges awarded. The InnoCentive Solver community is made up of more than
175,000 Solvers worldwide, and include scientists, engineers, business people,
academics and researchers, striving to answer issues of global concern.

"Our Solvers are some of the world`s smartest, most innovative thinkers,"said
Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive, Inc."Each year there are more Challenges
posted that look to find answers to increasingly difficult problems. All of our
Solvers, and especially our Top Solvers, prove time and time again that they can
rise to the occasion to successfully tackle these issues and make a difference
in the world."

One Solver was a winner in both categories, winning more than two Challenges and
more than $50,000. He was also InnoCentive`s highest grossing Solver:

Tom Kruer (USA): Solved three engineering Challenges. Kruer has over 30 years of
experience in new product development and innovation with 20 of those years
spent as an independent entrepreneur and founder of three successful businesses
based upon product creation and realization. He has been granted 13 patents for
disruptive technologies in the medical, electronics, and irrigation fields. He
is a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Engineers without Borders, and
Rotary International. He works exclusively on InnoCentive Challenges that focus
on needs in developing countries or the environment.

Top Solvers with the most Challenges solved in 2008 are:

Ammanamanchi Radhakrishna (India): Solved four Challenges in chemistry and life
sciences. A two-time Top Solver honoree, Radhakrishna is presently working at
Shriram Institute for Industrial Research as Joint Director - Bangalore Branch.
He is author/inventor of nine publications and five patents. His research
interests include theoretical and experimental chemistry, life sciences, chemo
bioinformatics and biotechnology.

Yuri Shafran (Russia): Solved three Chemistry Challenges. Shafran holds a Ph.D
in Organic Chemistry and works in information management and sales for
Technology for Organic Synthesis Laboratories, Ltd (TOSLab), a research firm
focused on Building-Blocks, Custom Synthesis and Combinatorial Chemistry. His
accomplishments include work on the synthesis of nitrogen-containing
heterocycles, and he has won Challenges on Acidic molecules, Aminothiazolines,
Furazans and Oxazoles.

Derenik Khachatryan (Russia): Solved three chemistry Challenges. Khachatryan
Holds a PhD in organic chemistry and has 40 published articles and conference
reports on organic and physical chemistry. He currently works as a senior
scientist at the "Laboratory of higher technologies" at Moscow State Academy of
Fine Chemical Technology. With interests in synthetic, organic and physical
chemistry, he has won Challenges in trifluoromethyl pyridines, heterocycles,
heterocyclic diamides.

The following Top Solvers won 2 Challenges in 2008:

Nikolay Barashkov (USA): A two-time Top Solver honoree, Dr. Barashkov is
currently the director of research and development at Micro-Tracers, Inc. He is
the author of six books, two granted US patents, four granted European patents
and has eight US patents pending.

Jesse Carlsson (Australia): Carlsson is a former management consultant who holds
a PhD in theoretical physics. He is a keen mountain biker and who currently
lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Ulrich Jordis (Austria): Jordis is a professor at the Vienna University of
Technology, Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry. Since the age of 12
chemistry has been his passion and he continues to enjoy it to this day;
planning syntheses and conducting hands-on experiments.

Kamel El-Darwish (Finland): Kamel has trained and applied expertise in molecular
biology, structural genomics, and transgenic animal and plant models. He holds a
Ph.D. (1989) in Biology, B.Sc. (1982) with double majors in chemistry and animal
science with American Chemical Society Certificate training (1982). Kamel is a
member of Greenpeace International.

Gheorghe Petru Valea (Romania): Petru Valea has more than 30 years of experience
in process design and engineering projects in oil refinement, petrochemistry and
energy. He is currently a Senior Process Engineer subcontractor to The Badger
Company Romania, an engineering and design firm. He has won Challenges in oil
containment and thermal extraction.

Eugeny D. Savin (Russia): Savin is a Senior Researcher in the Organophosphorus
compounds team, Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of
Sciences. He has authored more than 50 publications, including three reviews and
four patents. His interests include organic synthesis and chemistry of
heterocyclic compounds. He has won Challenges for his work in azaindoles and
trifluoromethyl pyridines.

Prof. Victor Georgievich Kartsev (Russia): Kartsev is CEO& CSO, Vice President
and company founder of Interbioscreen. An internationally recognized Russian
scientist, Kartsev is author of more than 400 research publications and
inventions, and co-author and editor of 30 scientific monographs. Head of
Interbioscreen Ltd. for more than 18 years, he has been in charge of research
programs and projects pursued by more than 3000 CIS scientists in cooperation
with over 700 leading global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in their
quest for new highly effective pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.

Yury Bodrov (Russia): Bodrov has a history working as a scientist in the Russian
Scientific Center of Applied Chemistry, the leading branch scientific center of
the Russian chemical industry. Currently he is focused on developing scientific
advancements in the following areas: protein and biopolymer based nanomaterials,
chemotronics, molecular electronics, medical applications, smart materials and
functional products. Bodrov graduated from Saint-Petersburg Institute of
Technology in Russia in 1992.

Maxim Evtefeev (Ukraine): An engineer-mathematician of control systems
development for the rocket-space industry, Evtefeev has participated in the
development of control system for a new Ukrainian rocket named "Cyclon-4". He
has won Challenges as diverse as boom system design and baby cleansing.

Babak Andi (USA): Andihas won Challenges in selective filtration and
Biodegradation. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and a Biochemistry Post Doctorate
and offers experience in molecular cloning, protein purification, enzyme
stabilization, advanced enzyme kinetics, protein crystallization, x-ray
crystallography, protein structure determination and bioinformatics.

Dallas Weaver (USA): Weaverholds a Ph.D. in Applied Science/Engineering and has
an aquaculture business. With a background that spans science, technology,
engineering, physical sciences, biology and ecology, he has excelled in
Challenge subjects that have few experts. He has won Challenges in Thermal
Extraction and Food & Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical Production Processes.

Harindran Namasivayam M.Sc (USA): Mr. Namasivayam is a synthetic organic chemist
with a record of resolving problems in the multi-step synthesis, purification
and spectral (NMR, IR, MS, LC-MS) characterization of organic molecules in
discovery and early process chemistry. He has proven literature search skills
and additional experience in pharmaceutical analysis, troubleshooting HPLC
methods and methods of minimizing drug degradation.

Michael Kardauskas (USA): Kardauskas received his Ph.D. in Solid State Science
from Penn State University in 1987, and worked for 12 years at Mobil Solar
Energy Corp. and ASE Americas, Inc., developing solar cell manufacturing
processes. Since 1999, he has consulted for a wide variety of manufacturing
companies on materials science problems through his company, Materials for
Electronics.

About InnoCentive

Founded in 2001, InnoCentive built the first global web community for open
innovation, enabling scientists, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs to
collaborate to deliver breakthrough solutions for R&D-driven organizations.
InnoCentive Seekers, who collectively spend billions of dollars on R&D, submit
complex problems to the InnoCentive Marketplace where more than 175,000
engineers, scientists, inventors, business people, and research organizations in
more than 175 countries are invited to solve them. Solvers who deliver the most
innovative solutions receive financial awards ranging up to US$1,000,000.
InnoCentive`s Seekers include commercial, government and non-profit
organizations such as Avery Dennison, SAP, Procter & Gamble, Pendulum, Eli Lilly
and Company, Janssen, Solvay and The Rockefeller Foundation. For more
information on InnoCentive, go to: http://www.innocentive.com/.

InnoCentive and InnoCentive Challenge are registered trademarks of InnoCentive,
Inc. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their
respective owners.

InnoCentive
Connie French, 978-482-3300
Marketing Director
press@innocentive.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009