Problem Statement Bank

The problem statement bank is a great place to start your ideation problem. Each problem is adapted from real-world challenges faced by industry partners, ecosystem veterans or companies who are experiencing these challenges.

Pick one of these problem statements and exercise your creativity in tackling them in new and innovative ways.

WHAT IS THE DEPOSITORY?

The first steps in the design thinking process are to empathize and define.

Before you develop your solutions, you should clearly understand the problems you wish to tackle to ensure that your solutions have real impact to our world. To expedite this process, we have worked with various industry partners to compile pressing problem statements faced by the industry and our research centres to help close the gap in the “empathize” and “define” stages in the design thinking process.

Use them as your starting points to ideate your solution to give your solutions the best chances to solve real-world problems today.

ORGANIZATIONAL-BASED PROBLEM STATEMENTS

These problem statements are contributed by organisations we have partnered with to provide real-world challenges with opportunities for deployment. The organisations have developed and define the scope of the problem and it up to you to tackle them in the best way possible.

INDUSTRY-BASED PROBLEM STATEMENTS

These problem statements are focused on the research clusters and strength of SUTD and fall under the following areas:

  • Aviation

  • Healthcare

  • Smart Cities

  • Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

  • Sustainability

Tap onto the SUTD research strengths to develop the next compelling solution.

DEVELOP YOUR OWN PROBLEM STATEMENTS

The open category invites you to contribute compelling problem statements from your everyday observations while developing strong and innovation solutions that could have an impact on the industry, society and the planet.

The problem statements should be well-defined and have opportunities to be deployed. To learn more about crafting your problem statements, look out for one of the upcoming ideation resource workshops.

Organizational-based Depository

HatchX

How might we develop real-time optimization techniques for video signal processing, enhancing image and video clarity?

HatchX

How might we predict, detect, and/or monitor burnout to enhance officer well-being and productivity?

HatchX

How might we create hyper-realistic and dynamically interactive experiences with avatars in virtual reality environments?

HatchX

How might we create rapid, non-intrusive methods for detecting drug consumption, and predict the likelihood of relapse in substance usage using emotional, physiological, mental, and/or other signals?

Industry-based Depository

Smart Cities

Supported by HatchX

How might we develop technology for rapidly detecting concealed threats (e.g., IED) hidden behind plastics, metals, and/or electronics while also creating an interactive IoT honeypot for attack discovery and investigation?

Smart Cities / Artificial Intelligence

Supported by DBShenker

How might we utilize generative AI to enhance the turnaround time for designing layout iterations in the RFQ process, which traditionally involves multiple iterations using various 3D software like AutoCAD, SketchUp, or Unity, a process known for its time-consuming nature?

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

Supported by HatchX

How might we enhance the efficiency and performance of AI and ML models deployed on edge devices?

Smart Cities / Artificial Intelligence / Sustainability

Supported by DBShenker

How might we efficiently control environmental conditions, reduce energy usage, and save on running costs for air-conditioned warehouses aiming for net-zero emissions, given the challenge of maintaining specific humidity and temperature levels while minimizing energy consumption and costs, which typically involves significant effort and expense in tuning and maintaining air conditioning systems?

Smart Cities

Supported by HatchX

How might we enable through-wall sensing of people for more effective emergency response and efficiently identify the geographical location where a given image was captured?

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

Supported by HatchX

How might we develop real-time optimization techniques for video signal processing, enhancing image and video clarity?

Smart Cities

Supported by DBShenker

How might we leverage robotics to assist in the cleaning of storage locations at height, addressing the challenge of neglecting cleaning in racking/storage spaces above ground level due to resource and work-from-height constraints as part of health and safety protocols in warehouses?