It has been some time since the last post because I have been occupied preparing an entry for the 2025 Arctic Innovation Competition. This competition is annually held in Fairbanks to encourage and recognize creative ideas for new products or solutions. The innovations don’t have to be related to the arctic, but that was the original idea.
Here are the 3-D printings I made today. The pieces were modeled using Fusion 360 and printed on a Bambu filament printer at the UAF MakerSpace. I am rather proud of these pieces because they are the first things that I have created from scratch for an idea of my own. It is the first fruit of the things I learned in class in the fall.
These two pieces will be modified to create the prototype of my invention. The competition entries have to be submitted by February 28. That should be enough time. There isn’t much physical work left to do and the application is mostly complete. Once the entries have been submitted, they will be evaluated by groups of engineering students, community representatives, and innovation experts as the top selections pass through a series of winnowings. If all were to go well, I would hear good news in April.
Regardless of how I place in the competition I will be in contact with the UAF Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepeneurship (ICE) to investigate the marketability of my invention. It has an obvious arctic application and could be used more broadly, as well. Melissa and I learned about ICE when we participated in the I-Corps business development program they offer. It was a valuable program that helped us learn how to conduct market research to make better decisions about developing our farming business.
Are you wondering what I have invented?
Sorry. You will have to wait for details. There are spies everywhere. Constant vigilance!
Good grief – we have to wait to learn what you have created??
My first glance revealed a face, due to two eyes and a mouth. I suppose that wouldn’t be exactly correct, but a facemask for the artic would be useful!
Pareidolia – the tendency to see familiar shapes in random arrangements.
Melissa and one of our offspring have that tendency, too.
They have made up stories about faces of creatures they see in some of the knots in the wood paneling in the living room.
Better late, than never.