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A living collection from the Altringer Eagle Lab at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. Problems come from expert input and from what experts publish: research agendas, standards roadmaps, agency reports. The Problem Genome system drafts each write-up, and its sources are checked before it enters the collection. It can make mistakes. It exists to put problem definition at the center of innovation. Problem definitions here can be cited, and so can improvements to them. Teams can reach domain knowledge early and contribute what they learn.

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Genome › Failure mode

Failure mode · gene 12 of 14

worked but couldn't pay

60 problems carry this gene · failure:unviable-economics

A working solution died for financial reasons. It was too expensive for a competitive market, or priced beyond what the people who need it can pay, or dependent on selling a recovered material nobody wants, or built on energy costs that can't compete. The engineering succeeded and the business model failed. Progress here means redesigning the economics.

Related genes

the numbers don't workeconomica feasible solution exists, but its costs and prices don't add up for anyone in a position to act exists but goes unusedadoption-barriera working solution is available, yet the people who need it won't or can't take it up can't make it at scalemanufacturinga working prototype exists, but nobody can produce it reliably at production volume the burden falls unevenlyequitythe problem or its solutions hit marginalized communities hardest, so fairness is a core design constraint

How to recognize it

Confirm the solution worked technically, then follow the money. If it died because unit costs, market prices, or the target population's ability to pay never added up, and it did not underperform, this is the gene.

Our system re-reads samples blind to test genes like this one. Genes it disagrees on are drawn dashed.

60 problems in 16 fields. Filter them, then share the link.

field: the built worldnobody taught the boda riderthe economics don't workhigh field: the built worldone lead supplier, three fuels that won't mixbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe inhaler gas cliffthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinea dollar a dose, three suppliersthe economics don't workhigh field: making & materialswindows that never come homethe economics don't workmedium field: food & the living worldthe stations that fall silentthe economics don't workhigh field: society & learningskills nobody mappedthe economics don't workhigh field: digital & spacesealed inboxesthe economics don't workmedium field: making & materialsthe zipper problem in textile recyclingthe economics don't workhigh field: making & materialsbuying the mine sight unseenthe economics don't workmedium field: food & the living worlda machine needed only in the rainthe economics don't workhigh field: food & the living worldbeetle notches four months latethe economics don't workhigh field: water & energythe price of a full pitthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinefive million health workers, mostly unpaidthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinethe floor as a disease vectorbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energywhen the lights go out on the loanthe economics don't workmedium field: digital & spaceno cash at the end of the linethe economics don't workmedium field: digital & spacetechnically possible, economically impossiblethe economics don't workmedium field: food & the living worldinspection dives that end too soontested in the wrong worldmedium field: society & learningconnected world, disconnected campsthe economics don't workmedium field: health & medicinethe drug exists but not herethe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicineone percent of its own vaccinesthe economics don't workhigh field: the built worldthree companies tried, three failedbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: making & materialsspider silk without the spider or the scaletested in the wrong worldmedium field: health & medicineone factory between the drug and nothingthe economics don't workmedium field: health & medicineevery dose built from scratchthe economics don't workmedium field: food & the living worldbrewed to perfection, too expensive to eattested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldmeat without animals, at any pricetested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energyno fleet without a first buyerthe economics don't workmedium field: water & energyfourteen hundred degrees, no clean flametested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsrecycle it and it gets worsetested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialstwenty years of research, still twice the pricetested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsbiology can't beat petroleum on pricetested in the wrong worldmedium field: health & medicineno alarm before the last breaththe economics don't workhigh field: digital & spacethirteen years to uranus, no battery laststhe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinetwenty years of pills, the worm returnstested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicineprotection invented, not deliveredthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicineadult pills for children's cancerthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinecold war reactors, modern medicinethe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinenobody wants to make the drug we need mostthe economics don't workhigh field: water & energypredictable power, prohibitive pricethe economics don't workhigh field: water & energyfour hours of storage for a hundred hours of needtested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energyno fuse exists for this voltagethe economics don't workhigh field: water & energyelectricity without a bottletested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldforever chemicals with no known destroyertested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spacespace computers fall shortthe economics don't workhigh field: digital & spacenothing survives fourteen nights at minus two-thirtythe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicineantivenom waits at hospitals victims can't reachthe economics don't workhigh field: making & materialsfactory data in a thousand locked drawersbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: water & energyup to four years for a large power transformerthe economics don't workmedium field: food & the living worldharvested, then losttested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsmandated green, can't afford the transitionbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energythe cheapest battery costs the most to recyclethe economics don't workhigh field: food & the living worldthe energy cost per lettucetested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energyarsenic removed in the lab, not in the villagetested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldunderwater batteries nobody can easily replacethe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicinetwenty-five years in the lab, not in the eyetested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe vaccine froze and nobody noticedthe economics don't workmedium field: making & materialsthe metals we throw awaytested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldevery field varies, every sensor averagesthe economics don't workhigh