As far as I understand (and I might be wrong), it's essentially a bountysource (https://www.bountysource.com/) but with steem instead of "real" money (fiat).

I'm not sure if utopian.io will be as succesfull as people think, thanks to bountysource. I mean, if steemit proves to be successfull, then utopian.io might be successfull as well, but I doubt steemit will work out in the longer future.