World Solve

AI, automation, caregiving, health events, and climate disruptions may make stable employment less common. The challenge is designing benefits, credentials, insurance, and taxation systems that follow people across changing forms of work. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Automation could eliminate jobs in some regions while creating new opportunities elsewhere, reversing long-standing urbanization patterns. Cities need adaptable housing, education, transport, and fiscal systems for population movement that is difficult to forecast. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Temporary or permanent height exchange for social or economic benefits creates new bodily hierarchies and health risks. The problem is protecting bodily integrity from becoming a tradable commodity linked to status.

Long-lived infrastructure and environmental decisions can impose costs on people who cannot vote today. The unresolved problem is creating legitimate institutions that represent future people without removing accountability from current citizens. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

If people live substantially longer, societies will need new models for work, learning, housing, dependency, and end-of-life care. Existing systems are not designed for decades of post-retirement life or multiple phases of dependency. The solution must produce useful coordination and accountability while minimizing collection of sensitive personal and behavioral data. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

If people live substantially longer, societies will need new models for work, learning, housing, dependency, and end-of-life care. Existing systems are not designed for decades of post-retirement life or multiple phases of dependency. The design must remain functional when standards, trade routes, data access, and diplomatic cooperation are unreliable. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

If people live substantially longer, societies will need new models for work, learning, housing, dependency, and end-of-life care. Existing systems are not designed for decades of post-retirement life or multiple phases of dependency. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Many countries will need to support more older people with fewer workers and uncertain productivity gains. The challenge is redesigning pensions, care, migration, housing, and employment without increasing generational conflict. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

If pets can be induced to shift attachment based on economic offers, the human-animal bond becomes a marketable asset. The problem is protecting enduring relationships from commercial override while still allowing rehoming under genuine welfare conditions.

Future missions beyond low Earth orbit will expose crews to radiation, isolation, altered gravity, communication delays, and limited emergency care. The open problem is developing autonomous health systems that remain safe under unknown conditions. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Urban platforms that reposition based on market indicators create unpredictable geography, disrupt supply chains, and separate communities. The problem is coordinating mobility, infrastructure continuity, and resident rights when the ground itself moves for financial reasons.

Removing debris may require technologies capable of approaching, manipulating, or disabling other spacecraft. The challenge is creating verification and trust mechanisms so debris removal does not become covert anti-satellite capability. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

When people rent out unused cognitive capacity during daydreaming, buyers may leave behind persistent mental traces. The problem is creating clean separation between leased neural resources and the host’s own cognition so that temporary economic use does not produce lasting psychological or identity effects.

Modern economies rely on precise timing for finance, telecom, energy, and navigation. Future systems need resilient alternatives to single-source satellite timing during cyberattacks, solar storms, and geopolitical crises. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Astronomy, cultural practices, wildlife, and human sleep may be affected by large satellite fleets. A workable solution must reconcile connectivity goals with brightness limits, orbital design, and international compliance. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Lunar infrastructure and resource extraction could create new strategic inequalities. The challenge is developing rules that enable science and commercial activity while protecting shared interests and preventing territorial competition. The design must remain functional when standards, trade routes, data access, and diplomatic cooperation are unreliable. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Lunar infrastructure and resource extraction could create new strategic inequalities. The challenge is developing rules that enable science and commercial activity while protecting shared interests and preventing territorial competition. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Autonomous spacecraft may make split-second avoidance decisions using imperfect data and proprietary software. The unresolved problem is assigning responsibility, proving fault, and compensating affected parties across jurisdictions. The design must remain functional when standards, trade routes, data access, and diplomatic cooperation are unreliable. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Autonomous spacecraft may make split-second avoidance decisions using imperfect data and proprietary software. The unresolved problem is assigning responsibility, proving fault, and compensating affected parties across jurisdictions. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Severe solar storms can disrupt satellites, power grids, navigation, aviation, and communication networks. Future resilience requires better forecasting, hardened systems, coordinated shutdown procedures, and affordable protection for developing countries. Affected communities must have meaningful control over data, revenue, deployment decisions, and the right to refuse harmful applications. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.