It's not easy being green. If you're a homeowner wanting a low environmental impact, these words are especially true. Most home hardware still has a long way to go before it can be called "eco-friendly." That doesn't stop the tremendous demand for them. So who, then, is rising to the call?
Enter the $50,000 Products for Life Challenge. The contest: to create environmentally friendly, long-lasting fluid systems that will dramatically outperform existing technologies.
The contest is currently open for entries, with the submission deadline coming up soon on August 26th. There are already quite a few innovators working on the project, trying to use the latest materials and techniques to come up with awesome, groundbreaking solutions to our current sustainability issues.
We're going to take a look inside the minds of the Products for Life Team. We'll learn a bit about why they do what they do, and how they think incentive challenges can work to find novel solutions for problems.
Q. When did you realize you wanted/needed to run a HeroX challenge? Were you inspired by any other incentive competitions?
A. The idea of using the most creative and innovative minds to help break through the limitations of aging technology used in products designed for the home was the inspiration, and we realized this when our team was involved in a Shark Tank event earlier in the year.
Q. In your opinion, what particular aspect of incentive competitions makes them effective?
A. The opportunity to cast your challenges to a greater number of creative thinkers provides a potential to bring change that does not exist in today's corporate institutions, whom have become very risk-averse.
Q. If crowdsourcing wasn’t an option, how would you (or your industry/organization) approach this problem? How has it been approached in the past?
A. It would only be considered if a viable threat to existing technology surfaced. Companies take the path of least resistance to success and that involves allowing a product design to exist way beyond its ability to contribute to solving problems.
Q. What major innovations come to mind when you think of fluid hydraulics?
A. Can’t think of any!
Q. If you had to guess, which professional field will your solution most likely come from? Why?
A. Probably from uniquely gifted thinkers who agree with the limitations that exist with the technology that is being challenged. Those individuals might just have nothing to do with those current industries.
Q. Do you have any advice for HeroX innovators working on your challenge?
A. No, I’m hoping they have advice for us!
Q. What are some of the world-shifting effects you think might come from your challenge?
A. Better, smarter, cleaner, more efficient, and longer lasting systems.
Q. Where do you see the fields of fluid hydraulics and water management going in the next 50 years?
A. The same path they are currently on without viable disruption. This industry, particularly fluid hydraulics, has changed little in the last 75 years.
Q. Do you have a favorite superhero - or personal hero? Or both? Why are they your favorite?
A. TDR! [Theodore Roosevelt] For living a life that supported his most famous quote! “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat".
Do you have some revolutionary ideas to create more sustainable fluidic systems? Then head over to the Products for Life Challenge page to learn more - the contest is still open for submissions until August 26th!
