Why innovative startups aren’t tackling world’s biggest problems

“I think we are innovating far more rapidly than at any point in history.”

As author Ramez Naam told KIRO Radio’s GeekWire, startups are following the best model for developing great, new ideas.

“We have to innovate as quickly as we can to really do the best we can for people on the planet,” said Naam. “My ideas really come mostly bottom up; they really come when you have a free-flow of ideas, when you have people really able to combine multiple ideas into one concept.”

It’s a strategy that lean startups are using all the time. Try out 10 ideas, then move forward on the one that works.

If you think it seems like a simple way to conquer many of the world’s problems, you’re not alone. But according to Naam, when it comes to finding solutions to some issues, there just isn’t enough motivation.

“We’re tremendously effective in (creating new ideas), when there is an incentive to innovate that direction.”

According to Naam, almost all of our environmental problems exist because the right incentives aren’t there. He used the world’s coral reefs as an example: they’re suffering as climate change continues and will get worse as our oceans become more acidic.

So why aren’t there any billion-dollar startups tackling the issue?

“Even though we get tremendous value from them, almost all the fish in the deep ocean were nurtured in the reefs, nobody owns that. Nobody gets that revenue stream so nobody has owned the ROI in investing in it,” said Naam.

But don’t give up. If the incentive comes along, Naam said we have the minds, the skills, and the right tools to access, share, and intersect ideas – more than ever before.

Ramez Naam is the author of “The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet”

Listen to this episode of the GeekWire podcast here.