Teamwork
Entrepreneurial think tanks are making news for the innovative ways they get together to solve the world’s problems with their products and services. Recently, a group of entrepreneurs (including one Nobel Prize winner) were sequestered together to debate, discuss and brainstorm to find creative solutions to complex problems in a way that would make MacGyver envious. They may not have used a paper clip, a rubber band and an empty beer can to purify a village’s water supply, but they did go on to complete acts of greatness. Unreasonable at Sea (UAS) gathered top mentors and the most creative business minds, put them on a boat, and set them off sailing the world to solve business and technology related problems.
Sailing is good for business
While sailing the seas in search of creative solutions to global problems, young entrepreneurs learned how to refine their products and services to meet specific needs. Furthermore, they were able to scale their offerings to better fit the global marketplace. In their efforts to modify products, entrepreneurs were able to think together and come up with ways to make the technology of the future aid their conquest to launch products and services to better fit the space of the global marketplace.
How technology plays a role
Entrepreneurial problem solving and technology go hand-in-hand. For example, May 4th will be a day in which thousands are expected to flood the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology with more than 1,400 exhibitors showcasing ways in which technology and business act as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship. This is one form of a think tank. It is a place in which thousands gather together in a single sphere to share thoughts and ideas regarding today’s business tech problems. They may not be in a boat with the Archbishop Desmond Tutu exercising a global reach, but they are congregating in the name of entrepreneurial science to find solutions to areas that need improvement.
Example of success
Of the many bright minds to make up the UAS manifest, One Earth Designs (makers of parabolic solar cookers) discovered the strand that supports its solar shell composed the vast majority of its product cost. The success of this product relied on getting the cost down. In a workshop held on the ship one of the program’s mentors took on the semblance of MacGyver and had participants scrambling for a variety of materials to redesign the base. Somewhere between Shanghai and Hong Kong the team re-designed the solar concentrator in a way that offers a promising outlook to cut the product’s cost.
Engage
There are opportunities such as this one for entrepreneurs to play active roles in helping their peers, improving their own products, and lending a hand to help the world while launching products in a global marketplace. Do some online research and apply to lend your creativity to a problem-solving think tank.
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Why Today’s Entrepreneur is a Modern Day MacGyver
