Innovate by finding new uses of existing products

This aspect of innovation had been a part of our evolution process. Right from the beginning of mankind, human beings have found out multiple uses for stone, trees and animal skin. Innovative minds keep exploring new uses of existing products.

Plants are used for decorating homes and offices. It is used as building material for making thatched roofs and cover walls, some plants are used as broom. The hollow stems of some plants are used as breathing stems to allow people to remain underwater. New window of opportunities open up the more we innovate.

During the Second World War Americans were exploring ways for inventing a substitute for rubber. James Wright, an employee in General Electric, invented a strange gooey mass by adding boric acid to silicon oil. It was considered completely useless since it could not serve any practical purpose. Several companies initiated efforts to find a practical use for the product. Everyone gave up. A toymaker called Peter Hodgson found it interesting and put the product into a new use - making of toys, thus Silly Putty was born. It became the most popular toys of all time. The invention which seemed to be useless in the beginning is also used by astronauts to hold pens and tools in their weightless environment.

During a visit to his family’s village near Pune,India, Mr. Santosh Ostwal saw his grandfather walk a mile every midnight to switch on the pump to ensure proper water supply in the farm. His deep desire to help his grandfather kept him thinking while he was studying engineering. After completing his engineering he worked out ways to find a solution and has to go through a lot of struggle and poverty in his pursuit to innovate. At last he came up with a solution which is saving water and helping farmers avoid several tiring, dangerous long walks a day.

His solution – a mobile phone adaptation that triggers irrigation pumps remotely. Villagers were surprised to know about the new use of mobile phone and so were the audience in Barcelona where Mr. Ostwal showed how he can control an electric pump with a mobile phone. He named the device “Nano Ganesh” which won the award in Nokia’s Mobile Innovation Contest in Barcelona and is now being used in Egypt and Australia.