Learn how innovations in aerogels by Blueshift, Graphene, Krosslinker, Kalwall and …. can help you come up with the next generation of technologies.
Looking for some inspiration to generate ideas in Aerogels? You have reached the right spot! In this post we are not just sharing an actionable idea generation technique; but something far more than that. The technique we are covering is called “SCAMPER” and the bonus that we are giving here are the innovations in aerogels. ‘Aerogel’ – one of the most fascinating materials on earth.
What is SCAMPER?
Bob Eberle proposed the SCAMPER technique in his book – SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development in 1971. You would be surprised to see that it’s not outdated yet and can still help you draw a lot of value.
The word SCAMPER is an acronym for 7 brainstorming methods. With each method, you need to answer specific questions about an existing product or idea to explore something new. Similarly, fostering an environment that encourages innovative thinking can be instrumental in generating novel ideas in various fields. Let’s take a look at these 7 methods:
| Method | What you do | What questions you ask |
| Substitute | The focus of this method is to find alternatives. You substitute a part of the existing idea with something else to create a new thing. | Which ingredient can you replace without affecting the solution? Can you substitute people, time, or place for improving the quality? |
| Combine | You focus on combining 2 (or more) existing things to result in a better idea. | Can you combine a new element into an existing product and improve? Is it possible to merge 2 or more existing processes to create something new? |
| Adapt | During this method, you stress on adapting a part of or the whole existing product or process in a better way. | Can you adapt a new process or technology to the existing product? Is it possible to adapt a process to improve the speed or results? |
| Modify (magnify or minify) | Try to change the size, dimensions, quantity, or frequency in the existing product, process, or problem. | Can you add extra features? Is there a benefit in increasing or decreasing the frequency? |
| Put to other use | This process helps you to tinker if you can use your product or process in some other unexpected way? | Can you use your product differently? Is it possible to target another market for the product? |
| Eliminate | When you use the ‘eliminate’ method, you focus on getting rid of a part or process that may not be beneficial. | What can you eliminate from a product or a process? Is there a way to get rid of the harmful parts? |
| Reverse (rearrange) | In this method, you explore if any rearrangement or reverse technique like upside down or inside out with the product helps get new results? | What if you go backward? Can you reverse a process and get results? |
The table above shares a few questions for each technique. Feel free to download the exhaustive questions list for all the 7 techniques.
We are in awe with aerogels and hence chose aerogels to explain SCAMPER. From the first commercialization of aerogel, it has been a topic of fascination among scientists and researchers. And, we are no exception!
If you are an industry veteran from the Aerogel industry, I would recommend you skip to “SCAMPER – The Idea Generation With Innovations in Aerogels” section, as we are going to start with First Principles – explaining from basics.
What Is Aerogel?
Aerogel is a synthetic porous ultralight material. It is the lightest solid on earth; an aerogel block of a car’s size would hardly weigh 1 kg. What makes aerogel so interesting are the properties it exhibits in various conditions.
For instance – aerogels have super high thermal resistance. Look at the picture below – A flower is on a piece of aerogel which is suspended over a flame from a Bunsen burner. The flower remains protected from the flame due to aerogel.
Source – wikipedia
Apparels stuffed with aerogels can keep you warm even under a storm of liquid nitrogen (-321°F / -196°C). That’s how magical it is! The post explores 7 breakthrough innovations in aerogels in the following sections – keep reading!
Who Invented Aerogel? | An interesting Story
The inventor, Samuel Stephens Kistler, made the first aerogel somewhere in 1931. His associate and friend, Charles Learned, had a bet with him to replace the jellies’ liquid without shrinking. Kistler removed the fluid and filled the air using the supercritical drying method. The technique is not as simple as it sounds. Kistler took many years and long research to make the first aerogel.
Why We Picked Aerogel To Explain SCAMPER?
MarketsandMarkets reported last year that the aerogel market would reach a share of $1045M by 2025. During the forecasted period of 2020-2025, it would register a CAGR of 10.4%.
What keeps the demand so high is the applications in the energy, construction, and transportation sectors. The need for thinner, lighter, and economical aerogel would drive the growth. Emerging players are challenging each other for novel ideas and growth, keeping the aerogel’s field vibrant. While nonorganic silica has been the most prominent base material thus far, the carbon in organic material is also quite popular now. Start-ups are exploring eco-friendly routes to produce aerogel, as well.
The end products of aerogel are available in many forms like blankets, monoliths, granules, and powder. Here is a tree structure by IDTechEx to help you understand the base materials and available forms of aerogel.
Source – IDTechEx
Having so much innovations in aerogels going on, how could we not dive in the ocean of aerogels to pull out some pearls for you? TriangleIP believes in democratizing innovation so that we can help more people innovate. So here we are sharing different models that you can use to generate more ideas.
So, let’s learn SCAMPER with examples of aerogel based products and companies.
SCAMPER – The Idea Generation With Innovations in Aerogels
Of all the companies working with aerogels, we chose 7 promising works, based on their innovation technique that aligns with one of the SCAMPER methods.
Substitute Like Blueshift
Traditional aerogel is made up of silica, which makes it brittle. Such aerogel can fracture under high pressure. Blueshift substituted the silica with polyimides polymer to create a highly flexible aerogel. Trademarked as AeroZero®, this aerogel makes good tapes and laminates. The strength, insulation, and flexibility make it versatile for various industrial purposes.
- Aerospace and defense use AeroZero® due to its high insulation and cryogenic properties.
- Electronics and telecom fields have adopted AeroZero® because of its lightweightness.
- The semiconductors industry uses AeroZero® as it performs uniformly between temperature -200 °C and 250 °C+.
How incredible, isn’t it?
Imagine substituting one of the core materials to solve the existing problems when you think of an idea generation technique.
Combine like Graphene Composites
“Innovation is taking two things that exist and putting them together in a new way.” – Tom Freston, Co-founder, MTV
Although Graphene Composites (GC) makes composites for aerospace, which are lighter than the carbon-based parts and have higher strength, their armors are worth talking about.
GC combines graphene with aerogel to produce the strongest, lightest, and resilient GC Shields™ as ballistic armors. These shields disperse the impact of a bullet or stab more effectively than other armor. GC Shields™ have been tested with various rifles, shotguns, and knives.
These mobile shields come in different sizes. They can fit in a school bag or be obtained in a bigger size to protect the full torso. A pack of shields combined to make a wall offers group protection during an attack. GC Shield™ Curtain protects active shooters in large and open spaces.
Graphene Composites stands out among companies working with aerogel due to their unique product. Combining two products to offer new benefits is a great way to innovate. What can you combine to create a new product worth interest?
Adapt Like KrossLinker
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
Do you know 1 out of 5 vaccines spoils during transit in the supply chain?
KrossLinker came up with an innovative approach to package bio-pharma products. These pharma products are temperature sensitive. Many vaccines and biologics like blood, human organs, vaccines, and drugs suffer from the lack of the proper packaging. The traditional Styrofoam packaging spoils these biologics due to temperature fluctuation and dust.
Then existing aerogel products couldn’t stand up to the fabrication challenge of cold-chain biopharma. First, the production speed couldn’t stand the demand and affected the vaccine cost for the end user. Dusty aerogel products pose contamination risks to biologics.
KrossLinker took the challenge and innovated aerogel packaging for biopharma products. They solved the dust issues with the silica aerogels. Their products are thin, leading to smooth fabrication. Their technology produces aerogel boards 3x faster and at 50% lower production cost. Owing to low energy consumption, carbon footprints are lesser, too.
Adapting an existing process to solve a burning problem: just the right approach to innovating. And KrossLinker did the same.
Modify like Cabot Corp
The Cabot Corp’s idea of using aerogel powder in cosmetics reflects the ideology of ‘modify’ in SCAMPER.
Aerogel has a remarkable absorption capacity—quite useful to soak moisture and oil from the skin. Hence, if added in the powder form, it’s beneficial to enhance cosmetic functioning.
A skin product renders a matt finish by soaking the oily layer from the skin. Aerogel’s addition helps maintain anti-caking and free-flow properties in skin and beauty products. Also, it helps retain the fragrance.
A small touch of aerogel to the beauty products magnifies their properties. What are your thoughts on modifying an already available product and coming up with a new idea?
Put To Another Use Like Kalwall
Aerogel by nature is translucent with a blue tint. Kalwall used this property of aerogel and made use in construction for good daylight trapping in massive structures.
While maintaining the buildings’ aesthetics, their structures make the indoor ambiance cozy and conducive to living. They offer museum-quality daylighting™, Skyroofs®, skylights, canopies, and walkways with aerogels. Not only are these products great for natural lighting, but are also great as thermal insulators.
Another benefit of using Kalwall’s design system is, they help the tenants and owners save on energy expenses. The carbon footprints of these buildings are also low. Kalwall panels also claim to be self-cleaning and resist UV rays.
Putting a product in a different market is a risk. But a little resilience and perseverance can bring success; Kalwall has proved this.
Eliminate With Bronx Culture
While manufacturing aerogel, Bronx Culture might have thought about one question: How can we achieve the same or better aerogel without superfluous byproducts? Or simply put: what can we remove in the process to make the end product equivalent or better?
Using the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) technique of making aerogel with cellulose fibers, Bronx Culture has developed Oryza Aerogel. Cellulose fibers are obtained by mulching the paper. NUS’s manufacturing process generates zero byproducts, saving the landfills from paper wastes.
Oryza Aerogel has no crystalline silica dust in the residues. This means a safe working environment for workers by minimizing the hazardous effects due to inhalation and contact.
Bronx also eliminated eco hazards by adopting green and eco-friendly manufacturing processes. The NUS technique consumes less energy and lesser hazardous chemicals. Paper that goes otherwise into landfills is now a source of aerogel.
Isn’t it time to go green and eliminate environmental perils in our innovations, just like Bronx Culture?
Rearrange Like Dunlop Racquets
“If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” – Charles Kettering, Inventor
When Dunlop decided to manufacture racquets using aerogel, they might have one question in mind: How can we rearrange the current structure for better results?
Dunlop rearranged the design and structure of their racquets to provide more strength and shock absorption. Due to its extreme strength and lightweight, aerogel was a perfect answer to making the racquets better.
The company placed aerogel strategically at 2, 5, 7, and 10 o’clock positions in the racket’s hoop. This increased the size of the sweet spots and spiked the stability of the racquets. These racquets also have Dunlop’s patented Aerobridge technology. Aerobridge is a dampening system, which cancels string vibration. For this, they use an aerogel sleeve in the throat of the racquets.
The design has helped players win world titles. Rearranging or reversing a technology like reverse engineering is a proven and old style to handle problems and works well in many fields.
What is one thing you can rearrange in a design or even look in the reverse direction to solve a burning issue?
Let’s Sum it Up
SCAMPER, time and again, has proven to be useful for problem-solving and innovating worthy products. The best part of SCAMPER is that it forces you to question the status quo and as you know best the breakthrough innovations come when you challenge the status quo.
Do try it in your next R&D meeting. Whether you work as a one-person team or in a group, idea generation this way is systematic and result-oriented. So, which of the 7 methods are you choosing to solve a problem? Tell us in the comments section; we are open to brainstorming. Feel free to download the questions list for all the 7 methods by filling the form below!
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