NineSigma Hits $10 Million Mark in Open Innovation Contracts

CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwire - December 10, 2008) - NineSigma, the leading provider of open innovation solutions, today announced that it has facilitated more than $10 million in open innovation contracts between innovation seekers and solution providers. The milestone is a result of the company's growth in the number of new clients and open innovation projects that span a variety of industries, including food and beverage, consumer products, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical.

NineSigma helps Global 1000 companies capture value from the external innovation marketplace through a variety of means. At its core, NineSigma utilizes its Request process to connect clients with innovators worldwide to solve business and technology challenges. As a result of the introduction of a new service to help clients more effectively assess and acquire external technologies on the back-end of the process, the rate of transactions between innovation-seeking companies and solution providers has increased dramatically to a new high of 40 to 50%.

"The $10 million milestone demonstrates definitive growth in our business, as well as the growth in popularity of open innovation as a business strategy," said Matthew Heim, president of NineSigma. "We are currently working with more than 70 companies that have active projects in the pipeline, and given the current economic conditions, we anticipate that even more companies will embrace the opportunities available through open innovation as a means to accelerate the innovation cycle and fully leverage internal resources."

NineSigma's clients across industries are partnering with external solution providers to address a range of issues from regulatory compliance and materials testing to finding new breakthroughs in energy harvesting techniques. The $10 million in transactions represent contracts between NineSigma's clients and solution providers from small to large companies, universities and research labs and organizations around the globe.

"NineSigma provides us a great opportunity to present our innovations to Global 1000 companies and work with them to solve their technology challenges," said Jon Dettling, North American Director for Ecointesys, a Swiss-based environmental life-cycle assessment provider. "The Request process provides a unique opportunity to engage companies based on their specific R&D directions. These are timely connections that are very difficult to form otherwise. We have come to rely on NineSigma as a valuable channel for new opportunities that we otherwise would not have known about."

About NineSigma

NineSigma helps Global 1000 companies develop and maximize value from their open innovation programs. Companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft, Philips, Unilever and Xerox engage NineSigma to build new knowledge and capabilities that accelerate the innovation cycle and increase productivity. A leader in expert-sourcing, NineSigma has the largest open global network of solution providers and an extensive database of existing solutions that spans all industries and technical disciplines. In 2008, NineSigma ranked among the top 20 percent of companies on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. The company also has operations in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.ninesigma.com.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Dan Dyer 513-478-7818