Pre-Ramble: As you know, one of my goals for this site is to showcase and celebrate creative solutions. Based on the title, I bet you thought this entry was going to be about the 2008 presidential election. It’s not. Although, creatively speaking, our man McCain was definitely trafficking outside-the-box when he came up with his scrappy, high-heeled running mate, Tina Fey. Like many voters, I can’t help but think that there would be a better, more seasoned person out there to step into that “heartbeat away” veep role… Glen Close, Meryl Streep… Even a younger actress like Kate Blanchett or Kirsten Dunst would bring more gravitas to the ticket than a woman who, while gifted, is essentially a comedy writer. What was he thinking?

Today’s posting features a creative solution that was first brought to my attention by an article in the Wall Street Journal – Floating a New Idea For Going Wireless (by Amol Sharma, 2/20/08, p.1A). According to the article, 36% of rural Americans don’t have internet connections (…hang with me now, this is a hot topic). This “digital divide” limits the potential of the American workforce in a global economy and is also seen as a line of demarcation between the haves and have nots. How are folks in rural areas supposed to reap the virtual cornucopia of benefits offered in our Flat New World, if they can’t even Google their own name? Alas, the task of stringing cable or erecting cell towers in remote areas has proven to be expensive and tricky.

I can totally relate. Last year my husband, who is pretty good with a tool belt, brought the wonders of wireless networking into our house. As a home-based, freelance writer, I thought this was a fabulous idea. With wifi technology, I could potentially trot my laptop into any room in the house and set up shop, untethered and hassle-free. It wasn’t until I came home to a snarl of cables (think docking lines for the Queen Mary) snaking across the dining room and down through a hole in the carpet, that I started to have second thoughts. But, I digress.

Enter Solution. The article goes on to describe hot air entrepreneur, Jerry Knoblach and his company, Space Data Corp. These guys have devised a way to bring wireless Internet services to rural Americans in a handfull of southern states using a battalion of electronic transmitters which dangle from hydrogen-filled balloons floating 20 miles up in the air. Apparently, the airborne, shoebox-size units function as mini cell phone towers scattering coverage over thousands of square miles. (Here’s where the idea gets really creative.) As Jerry’s balloons are only able to keep the transmitters aloft for 24 hours, the units are equipped with tiny parachutes that enable them to drift gently back down to earth. To keep a constant supply of transmitter-laden balloons at an optimal altitude, Jerry hires a ground crew of dairy farmers (a very reliable bunch) to launch new units from their fields each day. (Ingenious, right? But wait, there’s more.) To retreive the fallen $1,500 electronic units, Space Data pays local hobbyists with GPS devices to retreive them – from random fields, swamps, trees, cliffs – wherever.

Yipes….  What does this business plan look like? Is anybody else thinking “Mouse Trap: the Deluxe MBA Edition”?? Are there line items for “dairy farmers” and “tiny parachutes”? The DVD boxed-set of MacGyver episodes maybe? The critical path on this operation is incredible in every sense of the word. I would have paid money to be in on that first venture capital pitch meeting.

The Take-Away: While my tone may seem disparaging, Space Data’s solution to the digital divide problem is not nearly as far-fetched as it sounds. Sure, there’s room for refinement in the concept, but for now, in addition to a nod and a snicker, it deserves closer contemplation for the elegant and uplifting, almost whimsical demonstration of innovative thinking that it is. Space Data’s hot air balloon solution is a great example of the random, resourceful, collaborative, risk-taking, “out there” dynamic that marks truly innovative ideas.