Ideas generated at Connect2009 unconference

Today I attended CII Organized Connect2009 Unconference. Topic of the unconference was Innovation ideas though ICT (Information Communication Technology- Primarily mobile and internet.) Lots of ideas were generated during 1.5 hour session and I was live blogging and live tweeting the event. Event was coordinated by veteran Kiruba Shankar and Tidel park auditorium was almost full. An unconference is exact opposite of a regular conference (where one speaker speaks and rest pretend to listen). Here each participant gets opportunity to speak out and everyone in the hall will be active by either a. speaking or b.organizing/volunteering or c. help spreading the word.

Here's a comprehensive list of ideas generated in today's Connect 2009 Unconference. To be honest, I believe this list is accurate to some 95% as I might have missed few ideas (either because they were lengthy and not to point or I failed to grasp/note them down). Sorry if I've missed any ideas. Contributor name is also included wherever possible. Misinterpretation of idea, if any, is regretted.

1. Taxi pooling at airport (Keshav)- Saves money, fuel, emissions and traffic jams-Build a system through which people heading towards adjacent locations can group together and hire one single taxi. 

2. SMS based GPS (Idea generated based on the fact that YSR's chopper could be traced because of an SMS sent from one of the officials)

3. Involve people in decision taking- MPs to live tweet from parliament and public to read and respond, so that instant feedback is conveyed. 

4. Tweeting through ICT 

5. Along with number, show location of caller in mobile (Ashok) 

6. Community radio center in villages with intenet Kiosks so that villagers can surf, reply on problem and solutions 

7. Reduce usage of vernacular languages 

8. Television is must in each house-quality program should be shown. ICT should have its own channels. Great opportunity to develop our own language system like what china has done. 

9. Directory of information 

10. Video conference facility 

11. Customized decision taking information to decision takers 

12. Instead of going for new idea- Use existing EduSAT, take education to every part of country (Pattabhiraman) 

13. Take ICT to gullies: pickup and encourage ideas from gullies, take it and post it on twitter. (Ex: Packing eggs in news paper) 

14. Fix GPS in consumer durables for easy tracking 

15. Making electronic controls for appliances with GSM models to bring down maintenance related issues. Already implemented by Pulsars-Makers of Vending machine controls and sugarcane juice making machine controls, used in Bangalore , that sends info on send daily usage, system condition and other aspects through SMS 

16. Right2SayNO.com 

17. Information at fingertips on taxi pricing between two location- Don’t give up, use technology to change them (Google latitude give distance between locations) 

18. Music on demand though mobiles to save on memory card 

19. Convert Sodexho pass into electronic form to prevent misuse. 

20. Vehicle with GPS transmitter 

21. Rotary supported project through village knowledge centre- Digital literacy, next web conferencing to take training on advanced courses (KB Sridhar) 

22. Charging concept- Use solar and wind power to charge mobile. 

23. Develop technology to detect authenticity of any innovation 

24. De printer: Insert printed paper, get back white sheet 

25. RFID tags on 1000 Rs notes and track them 

26. Centralize issuance of mobile sim cards through an authorized agency to prevent misuse. 27. Technology to detect telephones in a room.

28. Use facebook wallpaper instead of SMS 

29. Ability to share battery power between devices 

30. Common Chargers

31. Language converter for SMSs 

32. Change mindsets of people through technology-change minds of terrorists. Rename "Connect2009" to "Connect2009 onwards" 

33. Just dial number to call garbage collectors and other civic services (Add on idea Potholebangalore.com was set up wherein people can upload photos of potholes, server crashed due to heavy usage) 

34. Technology to receive SMS when mobile is switched off 

35. GIS enable entire TamilNadu (Secretary IT) 

36. GPS For ambulances 

37. Cops can use and encourage twittering 

38. Showing concern to environment. print both front and backside at once-saves paper 

39. Drink and drive: Sensor to be fixed in vehicle during mfg, won’t let vehicle start. 

40. Control all devices in home through bluetooth (already implemented by Jacob from kanyakumari: An idea and implementation that won 2nd price at Nokia innovations bluhome.net) 

41. Helpdesk via SMS 

42. Camera outside home-help us see visitor in home at our mobile phone when we are away 

43. Cost aspect of technology 

44. Cloth PC, Pant PC, fix PC in our clothing.(Gopi) 3rd and 29th were my ideas. 

A voting of ideas was also done. Few that got maximum votes were: Solar and wind charger, common charger etc. Let us wait and watch how many of these will be implemented. If you think you can implement some of these, please go ahead. Cross published at Connect 2009 official blog IMO, naming the event url as www.connect2009.in is a bad idea. I should have been www.connect.in/2009 (else next year they'll need an all new site-read more about best naming conventions for event websites) Image from Flickr.