The Center for Science and the Imagination is partnering with Solve for X, a new forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork. Solve for X launched a new website earlier this week, designed as a content-rich hub to share big ideas, prototype solutions, and build global networks of imagination and innovation.
Solve for X was started by a team from Google [x] in 2012 as an experiment to encourage discussion of technological solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems, and has evolved into a global network of creative individuals and institutions dedicated to radical innovation.
CSI and Arizona State University share Solve for X’s commitment to ambitious, solutions-focused moonshot thinking. Moonshots live in the gray area between audacious projects and pure science fiction; instead of mere 10% gains, they aim for 10x improvements. The combination of a huge problem, a radical solution and the breakthrough technology that might just make that solution possible is the essence of a moonshot. Great moonshot discussions require an innovative mindset–including a healthy disregard for the impossible–while still maintaining a level of practicality.
Solve for X is featuring a number of exciting moonshot solutions being developed right here at ASU:
- Using algae biofuel production to transform wastewater into renewable energy
- Developing a painless blood sugar test for diabetics that uses tears instead of blood
- Using ultrasonic stimulation instead of risky, invasive surgery to treat neurological and psychological disorders
- Training medical professionals to respond to emergency situations using interactive, haptic video games
- Creating robotic hands that precisely mimic the movements and responses of the human hand
- Fabricating ultra-light, sustainable building materials based on spider silk
Join Solve for X to share your moonshot solutions to the grand challenges facing humanity today. Visit the website for new videos and updates from ASU, CSI and other exciting collaborators including TED, Singularity University, X Prize Foundation, MIT Technology Review and GE Focus Forward.
Read more about Solve for X and CSI at Google’s Official Blog, TechCrunch and 9to5 Google.