For those of you that are new, welcome to Next Gen Ideas, the newsletter that provides the catalyst for entrepreneurs looking for a little creative spark. Each week, I will send 5 ideas that have randomly popped into my head as a regular everyday guy – I’m no billionaire, no business guru, just someone with an overactive imagination.

For everyone, enjoy this weeks’ ideas. This week most of the ideas seem like pretty large undertakings. However, the bigger the idea, the more room for creativity and optimization, so let the brainstorming run wild! At the very least, maybe these will help us ponder what big systems need some sprucing up. Enjoy! As always, if you ever try to action one of these ideas or have actioned them in the past, please reach out and share your experience with me! I’d love to feature you on a newsletter.

-        Chris

NEXT GEN IDEAS

Idea 1: A La Carte College

          Think Spirit Airlines meets higher education. The cost of universities and college across the nation is getting absurdly high, and most of that cost comes from the overhead needed to manage the “perks and amenities” packages. Most students don’t even realize what resources they’re paying for, and it’s evident in the lack of utilization of certain programs. Instead of listing several of the “perks” that come with standard tuition, I think it’s best argued by just saying that different students / different degree plans require different resources. So why not give students the ability to choose which “perks” they want to pay for? They don’t want a fitness center membership? Don’t pay. They don’t need online journal subscriptions? Don’t worry about it. This lowers the cost of schools, and offers colleges and universities the ability to grab market share based on something that has gone out of style in higher education: “the student [customer] is always right”.

Idea 2: “Smart” Pesticides

          Here’s another idea that needs some sophisticated engineering to solve. Pesticides are indiscriminate – meaning they affect a wide variety of pests at once. Therefore, they can have some unintended consequences on native plants and animals, or they could require a heavy dosage to achieve the effect you are looking for. Introducing, “smart” pesticides. First, choose a target pest. Second, hire a researcher to find a biochemical indicator of the pest (DNA, unique protein or pathway). Third, develop a chemical that neutralizes that particular indicator (potential for CRISPR technology). This of course is much more sophisticated then the three-step process offered here, but it’s not that far out of the realm of possibilities. Yes, some optimization and fine-tuning will be necessary to ensure only the target species is truly affected, but the result is a more effective and safer pesticide. In the spirit of last week’s newsletter idea number 2, this is a another: win win!

Idea 3: Large Scale Noise Cancellers

          Noise cancellation technology is rather sophisticated, but it is limited to small scale applications such as headphones. So where are there opportunities to explore a scaling of said technology? When was the last time you passed by a neighborhood along a busy road and saw one of their stylish, slick, awe-inspiring retaining walls? Sure, it might offer some privacy, but it doesn’t do hardly anything to quite the nonstop traffic. An array of microphones, large speakers, and a sophisticated enough programming could solve the problem. Capture the various wavelengths of sound with your microphone arrays, separate out the individual “sounds” (perhaps an opportunity for AI incorporation), and generate an “opposite” sound wave for each sound using the speakers and wa la! Nothing! Can you hear the potential? Hopefully not.

Idea 4: Glasses that Change Color with Alcohol

          This is primarily a fun idea, and by far the “smallest” on this week’s list. How cool would it be to have a glass that changes colors with alcohol? You could have different colors for different types. A darker color to represent more alcohol, so you have a more accurate idea of how many standard drinks you’re consuming. You could even incorporate the color changing technology used in some nail polishes that tell you if roofie-esk drugs are in a drink. From pure fun to safety, this technology is limited only by your creativity. Chemically and heat activated color changing already exists, so this one doesn’t seem like it would be too hard to bring to life. Consider this, the adult version of a mood ring.

Idea 5: Electric Eel Inspired Capacitors / Superconductors

          Here is one of my favorite ideas, particularly because it involves biomimicry and bio-inspired design. The premise is simple. Mother nature does things a whole lot better than us humans do most of the time, so let’s open our eyes and see what we can learn. For example, superconductors and capacitors are in massive demand right now. There has never been a larger need for superior energy storage and energy transportation. Tesla’s EVs and alternative energy are two massive, yet not the only industries that need these. EVERYTHING that requires powers stands to benefit from improved technology in this sphere. Well, let’s see how nature does it. Electric eels have specialized cells in their tails that leverage the natural electricity in animals’ nerves. These cells form a series of locks, much like a canal system. The electrical potential is stored in the individual locks, but once triggered to discharge by the brain, a signal is sent down to their tail that then initiates a chain reaction of these locks. One by one, these locks “discharge” by sending electricity to the next lock down the line, thus reducing the distance the total initial charge must travel and thus not reducing the total observed electrical potential that is discharged across the entire tail. We haven’t worked out the details, but this is an idea that can be interpreted on many different levels – the material of the locks, the transporting ability of the locks themselves, the communication between locks, or the entire segmented approach to transporting electricity. I have many a lofty vision for this technology’s potential, but I think Buddy the Elf said it best, “that’s shocking.”

Next Gen Ideas encourages the free and independent use of these ideas and any monetary gains generated from these ideas is the sole property of the individual who took action on these ideas. Next Gen Ideas forgoes any right of ownership over these ideas.