Came across this site which might interest other hackers. Entities (companies, individuals, non-profits) list a particular problem they would like solved and offer an award for the solution. Some examples:<p>"The Seeker is looking for a low cost outdoor localization system that can guide a robot with high accuracy in a residential property that includes obstacles, defined or not defined" <a href="http://gw.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/8507361" rel="nofollow">http://gw.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/8507361</a>