Low Cost innovative Ideas

Low Cost innovative Ideas

1.    3D Printing

3D printing is a slow but steady industrial revolution and a very current technology trend. It is a true innovation engineering revolution regarding product design and manufacturing and it is used for an increasing number of applications besides fast prototyping.

The addition of metal to the list of 3D printing materials enables the manufacturing of low annual volume and complex-shaped parts for the automotive and aerospace sectors that would be very expensive to produce otherwise.

Another example is VRZ2, a fully 3D printed bicycle using titanium.

A completely different application is food-making. Chef Bernard Faucher ‘cooks’ 3D printed pasta at Google headquarters. During the printing process, he can control temperature and cooking time depending on the type of food.

2.    Smart ring for payments and people identification

Cost: 100$-150$

With its contactless NFC technology, the ring does not need charging or changing its batteries since it does not rely on power, just like a credit card. It offers different options, from payment to people identification, access control, transportation tickets, etc. With a military-level safety, all the information is perfectly protected and only the ring’s owner can activate it and use it.

NFC stands for near-field communication, a radio protocol similar to radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.

The NFC Ring can communicate with any other device containing an NFC chip. For example, you can unlock your smartphone or tablet simply by sliding the ring along the back of the device. You can also unlock an NFC-enabled door with a tap of the ring.

3.    Self-adjustable liquid Filled eyeglasses

Cost: 20$-40$

Refractive error occurs when the shape of the eye stops light entering the eye from being correctly focused.

Myopia is one of the most common forms of refractive error, impairing a person’s ability to clearly see objects that are far away. It may occur if the eyeball is too long or there is too much curvature in the cornea – the transparent layer covering the front of the eye. Such abnormalities result in blurred vision when looking at distant objects.

Both the Adspecs and the newer model of self-adjustable glasses work on the same principle to correct the refractive error; they consist of a fluid-filled lens technology that allows the wearer to adjust the power of the lens until optimal vision is reached.

Each lens is made of two flexible membranes that move either inward or outward depending on the amount of fluid – a silicone solution – they contain.

The lenses are connected to a small syringe that sits on each arm of the glasses, and the wearer can adjust a dial on the syringe to pump fluid in or out of each lens. When fluid is pumped in, the power of the lens is increased – correcting hyperopia, or farsightedness – while pumping fluid out decreases lens power, correcting nearsightedness.

4.    Leverage your most innovative staff

Smaller governments are often too stretched to have more than a person or two focused on innovation full-time. To better take advantage of those who can dedicate their time to it, some companies began holding government-wide office hours this year. In-Service Design Studio, as the open office is called, any city employee can ask members of NYC Opportunity’s design and product team questions about innovation: how do you develop a prototype? Find people for user research? Get stakeholder buy-in?

It proved wildly successful, with over 100 office hours held from August to October 2018. Soon, the Service Design Studio was getting requests from outside New York City’s government from California and Rhode Island to Denmark and Thailand.

While NYC Opportunity likely has more resources than smaller agencies across the globe, a pared-down version of the Service Design Studio- where employees well-versed in design, data or digital government answer others’ questions could go a long way in improving cross-team innovation.

5.    Use students to supplement staff shortage

In Vancouver;s CityStudio, Students work directly with public servants on city improvement projects like neighborhood regeneration schemes and bike repair stations.

The collaborative classroom is embedded in City Hall, where officials can oversee students and provide advice and insight---similar to a teaching hospital, but for public policy.

One group of CityStudio students successfully implemented a public piano project that the city had initially dismissed.

Local colleges and universities send students interested in urban design and public policy to CityStudio, where they pitch ideas for projects to public servants, then design, prototype and test them independently.

The students gain invaluable work experience, and overburdened public servants get help launching creative projects designed to delight citizens.

6. Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil by Using an Ultrasonic Tubular Reactor

The aim of this research is to find an optimum synthesis biodiesel from waste cooking oil (WCO) using an ultrasonic tubular reactor. The experimental studies explored the variations in reaction time, molar ratio WCO to methanol (MeOH), amount of catalyst, the frequency of ultrasonic and output power ultrasonic on the ester contents. Comparisons of type ultrasonic and also the mechanical stirring method based on time reaction were investigated.

The optimum results of the biodiesel process is the reaction time of 5 minutes, NaOH catalyst 1%wt of WCO, molar ratio WCO to MeOH of 1:6, frequency ultrasonic of 20 kHz and output power ultrasonic of 650 W. The reaction time reduced 12-24 times compared to both methods and the yield of ester contents were obtained at 96.54%wt.