Open platform is a live crowdsourced algorithm marketplace

Algorithmia is a crowdsourced marketplace that helps developers get their algorithms into the hands of companies who could use them.

The majority of significant algorithmic developments take place at either large self-contained companies such as Google, who are likely to keep their findings to themselves, or at academic institutions around the world. Countless groundbreaking innovations are made every day in computer science and research departments, but these mostly end up in academic papers and not in the hands of companies and app developers who could use them.

Now, Algorithmia is a US based start-up which hopes to fix this: it is an open, live, crowdsourced marketplace, which enables the computer scientists who are building groundbreaking algorithms to get their developments into the right hands quickly and easily. The growing database is both marketplace and online community — it aims to make algorithms more accessible, for use as building blocks towards something bigger.

The database already contains more than 800 algorithms. Algorithm developers can host their work on the site, making it available for free or for a fee per-use. App developers can search the growing library or request specific algorithms through the Bounty system. Members can then develop that work for a fee before adding it to the database. Algorithmia operates using a credit system. Users can create a free account which comes with 10,000 credits to start them off. They can then purchase more from the site — 1,100,000 credits cost USD 100. The cost of each algorithm is determined by its author.

Are there other fields which could make use of a crowdsourced marketplace in this way?