Submission Format & Example

Example 1

What is your idea? Providing customized solid-state lighting to increase the yield for indoor farming

What is the problem you are solving? What is your innovative solution? Indoor farming of specialty crops (tomato, lettuce, strawberry etc.) is an emerging area that can provide high quality organic fruits and vegetables at low price and reduced environmental footprint. Indoor farming market is projected to reach values of around $3 billion by 2024. Customizable light sources are key to increase the yield and reduce the energy costs. We will develop an adaptive smart solid-state lighting platform that can change the wavelength and intensity of solid state LED sources to match the specific crop and other environmental conditions. On-board temperature, light, CO₂, and humidity sensors will be used to provide other feedback information in order to adjust the light wavelength and intensity for optimal plant growth.

Example 2

What is your idea? Smart pills with RFID for medication non-adherence

What is the problem you are solving? What is your innovative solution? Medication non-adherence is a common problem, affecting as many as 40% to 50% of patients who are prescribed medications for management of chronic conditions such as diabetes or hypertension. This non-adherence to prescribed treatment is thought to cause at least 100,000 preventable deaths and $100 billion in preventable medical costs per year. Our idea is to integrate a single biocompatible (silicon) RFID chip (1mmx1mm) on important medications. When a person swallows the pill the chip is powered in the stomach by a simple on-board voltaic cell and the electronics sends a signal to the outside confirming that the medicine is taken as prescribed. The signal can be received by a person’s smartphone or a separate receiver worn around the neck or waist.