Looking for trouble

At the end of this month, entries close for the Saatchi & Saatchi 2007 Award for World Changing Ideas. An award of US$100,000 in cash and consultancy is waiting for a fantastic idea. The title of the Award tells you exactly what inspired it and an early winner sums up its spirit. David Levy told us, “I go looking for trouble”. The truth is, there can be no progress without ideas and great ideas often make trouble as they challenge, change, and transform us. Take the winner of the award in 2005, the Light Up The World Foundation. How could a Light Emitting Diode change the world? Well, if like millions of people your life virtually comes to a stop when the sun goes down, it could change your world easily. Using LEDs that don’t need articulated electricity, the Light Up The World Foundation has lit up more than 14,000 homes in 42 different countries throughout the developing world from Afghanistan to Zambia. Parents get to read to their kids at bedtime, study, and the family’s social life at home can stretch past sunset. Other winners have included a sonar system that lets blind people ‘see’ with their ears, a tornado warning system and self adjusting spectacles (another life changing innovation for the developing nations).