Heat Wave and Ingenuity

As our last post illustrated, innovations can come out of nowhere, on the spur of the moment. When was the last time you had a great idea and didn't follow through on it? Overnight successes are born when people see a need, form a concept and immediately follow through.

The second key is taking advantage of opportunities to promote your idea, such as news or even weather events.

Let's take a look at this neat example: Auto Cool Solar Car Fan from someone who used the recent heat wave as an impetus to promote their product which is incredibly beneficial. As someone who lived through a solid month of 95-115 degree temperatures, I wish I had this on hand.

The basic concept is ingenious - a solar powered fan that automatically cools the interior of your car, fits in the window and never needs any batteries. It can reduce the interior temperature of your car by more than 30 degrees! Now, if it could only do that outside.

So, what can we learn from this company? They took their idea, got it past the concept phase, and then used the recent heatwave that crippled the nation as their springboard to promote it. What ideas have you been sitting on?