Idea Machine Journey - Month 12

My twelfth edition of idea sharing from my “Idea machine journal ”.

Disclaimer:

I want to reiterate the fact that “Ideas are easy, and execution is everything”. Being an entrepreneur myself now, I experience this every day. The current global pandemic situation might make a few ideas irrelevant. There might be a high chance that some of these ideas are already in the market – if I’m aware of them, I will include them in the reference. If I’m not aware of them, please feel free to post them in the comment section.

Idea 1:

Problem: Worldwide, around 55 million people have dementia/Alzheimer's Disease with over 60% living in low- and middle-income countries. These diseases that deteriorate cognitive function are currently the seventh leading cause of death among all diseases.

Potential Solutions:

• Early diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer's disease would help with better treatment of the disease. Measuring biomarkers such as beta-amyloid and tau levels in the cerebrospinal fluid would help us predict the early signs of the disease. Including this biomarker assessment with the regular full-body check-up can increase the rate of disease detection. Different neuroimaging systems such as structural imaging, functional imaging, and molecular imaging would help better assess the issue and the stage of the issue
• The use of naturally occurring Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as galantamine, decursinol, etc increases synaptic acetylcholine (Ach) levels and improves cholinergic function in the brain, thus improving the cognitive processing
• Many researchers are working on the use of CRISPR technology to focus on altering mutations in the C9orf72 gene, amyloid precursor protein (APP), Presenilin 1 (PSEN1), and Apolipoprotein E (APOE) – potentially helping the patients recover from the disease
• Creating a social community to provide Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) for the patients to provide a learning environment to improve their mental abilities and memory. Encouraging group learning through different fun activities would help recover faster

Reference:

?https://bit.ly/3qaY1vf

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Idea 2:

Problem: Monitoring different human organs’ functionality and health condition is critical to assess abnormalities and correlates that to diseases. Different scans are used currently to achieve this. However, having constant monitoring of human organs would result in predictive healthcare.

Potential Solution:

A solution that can combine different sensing technology to provide a holistic understanding of the human body to help us head toward predictive healthcare:

Researchers have developed ultrasound stickers/ patches that can be stuck on the arm or shoulder that can constantly monitor and visualize the human organs' functionality and health. Flexible materials have a layer of hydrogel that emits ultrasound to provide ultrasound-based imaging to monitor changes in the lungs, diaphragm, heart, stomach, and arteries.

Non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring is another technology that can provide an in-depth understanding of blood glucose and insulin fluctuations in the body that translates into your body's metabolic activity, weight management, etc.

There has been a huge inflow of sensors to measure blood oxygen levels, heartbeats, and blood pressure. These sensors can be incorporated into the technology to build a holistic body profile.

Reference:

https://bit.ly/3d0uWzP

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https://go.nature.com/3DlBBiy

Idea 3:

Problem: Nearly 4% of the world’s population is affected by autoimmune diseases. Scientists know about more than 80 autoimmune diseases. Your immune system protects you from disease and infection by attacking germs that get into your body, but sometimes your immune system attacks the healthy cells of your organs and tissues by mistakes. They can affect almost any part of your body.

Potential Solution:

• Mother’s breastmilk can be seen as the first functional food humans encounter during their life. It contains Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) that improve and stabilize the human immune system. Research is showing HMOs can modulate neonatal immunity by altering the immune cell responses. This in turn can reduce the reduce autoimmune disease incidence in kids. There are several research on studying HMOs from different demographics to understand the in-built immune system, and replicating the HMOs into supplements to treat autoimmune diseases.
• An imbalance of the gut microbiota might underlie a broad spectrum of human illnesses such as autoimmune diseases. Signals derived from gut microbiota are critical for the development of the immune system. Restoring the equilibrium in the gut microbiota can promote repair of the mucosal barrier to arrest the autoimmunity
• Use of natural immunomodulators such as Astragalus membranaceus, Codonopsis tangshen, etc to strengthen and act as surface immune activation
• Use of peptide analogs that might block certain specific immune pathways. Use the peptide analogs that disrupt the formation of the MHC-autoantigen-T cell receptor complex, which blocks the antigen presentation to the adaptive immune system

Reference:

https://bit.ly/3eXBWxV

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https://bit.ly/3RPY6ke

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https://go.nature.com/3DxsjAn

https://bit.ly/3dlrqjN

https://bit.ly/2WhFLQ9

https://bit.ly/3UmsvbG

https://go.nature.com/3Sagq7u

Idea 4:

Problem: As more and more people move towards urban cities, that is causing huge traffic issues. Statistics show that traffic congestion cost the US economy nearly $87 billion every year (2018). On top of that, the environmental impact is even bigger.

Solution:

During COVID lockdowns, we saw improvement in the urban area air quality and a reduction in noise pollution. Now that the world is back to normalcy, we need to make adjustments to learn from the differences we saw during the lockdowns. New-age technologies would also drastically improve and make a difference. The major reasons for traffic congestion are unexpected spikes in traffic demands, traffic bottlenecks, poor traffic control systems, road accidents, unexpected weather conditions, poor city planning, and inefficient public transport.?Technologies other than self-driving cars and underground tunnels are required to solve this problem immediately. Few thoughts:

• Research shows that more lanes on highways or adding more highways causes more traffic congestion. Being more deliberate on smart roadway constructions would be key to reducing traffic jams.?Reducing the number of intersection/ conflict points and increasing more roundabouts and diamond interchanges would be one solution for this. Bridging more commutes on the edges of the city to reduce traffic deadlocks
• Congestion pricing is another method where the government starts charging cars for using high-traffic zones during the morning and evening peak hours. Even though this might create a lot of pushback from the consumer but it can reduce the number of individual vehicles on the road during the peak time. Probably $1 to $2 to use the vehicles during rush hours. This would put people in a tough situation to use other modes of transport such as public transport or cycling or walking
• Poor public transport infrastructure is one of the major reasons for people choosing to use their vehicles. Frequency, comfort, and convenience are primary requirements for better public transport. But on top of that making public transport affordable, and accessible is even more critical. Startups and entrepreneurs building businesses around public transport for city commute can bring in a lot of innovation
• The ability to detect traffic in real-time using data analytics and AI – would help better adjust the traffic signal timing to minimize congestion. Under-the-road sensors, radar, and cameras would help generate the data and get into predictive traffic management. Satellite data provides the traffic data spread across different seasons which could be used to improve the prediction model during festival season and other climatic conditions. Vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) communication would help as well
• The government actively working with private and public firms in altering timings for schools, colleges, and offices to better manage traffic spikes. Especially, encouraging more flexible working hours, a shorter commute to the office, and providing public transport – can improve this situation

Reference:

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Idea 5:

Problem: Indian handicraft employment sector is the one of largest in India. However, there are closer to 50 to 60 traditional art forms and crafts that are on the verge of extinction in the country. For many artisans, pursuing their art form hasn’t been economically viable, and started taking up more monetarily beneficial professions. On top of this, these art forms are not passed on to the next generation as well.

Potential Solutions:

Building an innovative business model to merge this traditional art and crafts to meet current needs and demands would help revive this industry. Few thoughts:

• Building an online platform to curate these traditional art and crafts-related products and articulating the heritage and history behind these art forms are required. Building a platform that can cater to both domestic and international customers (exports) would make this more profitable. There is a strong demand for these indigenous products in the West
• Build collaborations between experienced artisans with young industrial designers to bridge the creativity between these two different worlds. This can bring the best of these two different ecosystems and build products that can blend tradition into the day-to-day consumer products. This can appeal to the younger Gen-Z and millennial customers. This would create new avenues for the struggling artisans and new ideas for the young designers
• Building an online platform to conduct masterclasses/ workshops on these art forms to teach the next generation about these dying traditions. These immersive training programs can create more demand for these art forms and thereby drive more product sales. Putting up in-person exhibitions to display the different art and craft forms and creating more awareness around them

Reference:

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