5 Of The Most Ambitious Tech Projects In The Pipeline

The above quote by Pearl Zhu pretty much sums up the need for innovation. In Zhu's "Unpuzzling Innovation: Mastering Innovation Management in a Structural Way," the author elaborates, "Innovation is in the eye of the beholder — hopefully, a customer. The only test for whether it is or is not an innovation is whether it makes any difference to a dimension that is valued by whoever has a stake in your offering, it is best if that happens to be the customer."

As the new year begins, several innovative firms are investing several millions or even billions of dollars into technologies that could be disruptive. Benzinga profiled some of the ambitious innovative tech projects, called "moonshot projects," that could turn out to be disruptive.

1. Amazon's Drone Factories

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN has apparently patented plans to have floating or flying warehouses. The patent describes an airborne fulfillment center/warehouses hovering at a height of 45,000 feet and individual drones to deliver goods to customers. Smaller airships would be used to return drones back to the fulfillment center, resupply the mothership with inventory and fuel and shuttle workers to the flying drone factory.

Given the regulatory hurdles for even terrestrial drones in the United States, it could take years before Amazon can transition from the conception stage to materialization stage as far as aerial drone factories are concerned.

2. Flying Cars

The development of flying cars has been in the works for some time now. Several companies such as Terrafugia, AeroMobil and Moller International are working on prototypes of these car-sized airplanes. However, these ventures have to cross many hurdles such as mandatory regulatory requirement of pilots, exorbitant costs, safety and still under-developed battery technology.

3. Google's Project Loon

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL's Google has been long toying with its Project Loon, which is a promising venture to provide internet access to remote areas and during natural calamities

The company has been testing balloons around the world since 2013, with the balloons staying airborne for over 100 days and transmitting broadband internet access directly to mobile phone handsets below.

4. Google's Solar-Powered Contact Lens

Google has also patented a solar-powered contact lens that can communicate with computers and also collect biological data on the wearer, such as internal body temperature and blood alcohol content. The lens could also collect data regarding the wearer's environment and is powered by photo detector sensors and solar cells.

5. Google's Project Jacquard

The new smart fabric being studied under the project is intended to create smarter clothes that can interact with the wearer. The project will allow designers and developers to build connected, touch-sensitive textiles into their own products.