$10,000 Visual Indicator of Disinfectant Effectiveness Competition

The Seeker is looking for ideas for a disinfectant system that provides a visual indication when it has lost its effectiveness as a disinfectant. Doctors and dentists currently have no easy way to determine when a disinfectant has lost its ability to kill pathogens and this results in either excessive waste because the disinfectant is discarded too early or risk of contamination because it is discarded too late. An easy and effective way to determine effectiveness would save money and reduce risk in medical and dental clinics.

Medical and dental professionals utilize disinfectant solutions to disinfect instruments to avoid transmission of infectious pathogens to patients. Dental clinics have a particularly high risk of contamination and therefore there is a strong need for meticulous cleaning and thorough disinfecting of all instruments. Due to the frenetic rhythm that characterizes the daily work in a clinic disinfection protocols must be performed as quickly as possible and professionals must also ensure the materials used for disinfecting instruments are still effective at the time of use. Unfortunately there is currently no easy method to determine when a disinfectant solution has lost effectiveness and this can lead to a risk of contamination if it is used too long or wasting money if it is discarded too early. The Seeker is looking for ideas for disinfectant systems that give a visual clue, ideally a color change, when they have lost their disinfecting properties. The Seeker is eager to identify Solvers with promising ideas or technologies for further co-development work on the proposed solution.

This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following unique features:

There is a guaranteed award. The award(s) will be paid to the best submission(s) as solely determined by the Seeker. The total payout will be $10,000, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $1,000.