There are several items that have become indispensable during this pandemic including, but not limited to, face masks, ventilators, and even those millions of toilet paper rolls. There are also a lot of things that will become indispensable as we move out of the pandemic and beyond, including some things we can no longer use in the same way we have always been using them (for example public transportation). Many of us don’t necessarily have the time to think about whether or not there are better alternatives out there. Universities may have that time as well as the knowledge and capacity, along with thousands of students with good ideas. Think about how indispensable items could be rethought, and quickly, to make them more accessible, affordable, reusable, or just safer, thinking in particular about what happens to them after the pandemic passes (so that, like millions of used facemasks, they don’t end up in our rivers and landfill causing a different kind of pandemic). Also look at how companies are doing this and how you can connect/support/collaborate/add to what they are doing.
