Google vies for tech 'moonshots' with 'Solve for X' initiative

Google and some of the most forward-thinking minds around the world recently discussed ideas to transform our lives. And now, the company is asking you to help.

Google yesterday announced the launch of a new Web site and Google+ page for its "Solve for X" initiative. Solve for X is designed to bring together some of the most successful entrepreneurs, researchers, and scientists, and try to come up with "solutions to some of the world's greatest problems." Google says that it wants to see the program deliver "10-times improvement, not 10 percent."

Google last week held a forum, co-hosted by Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, with some of the world's prominent researchers to discuss ways in which they could make "breakthrough technology" a reality. The participants discussed so-called "moonshots" that Google says, "live in the gray area between audacious projects and pure science fiction."

The Solve For X site includes some of the ideas brought before the forum last week, and others that Google will be launching over time. One of the more interesting videos on the site comes from Mary Lou Jepsen, founder and CEO of Pixel Qi, in which she discusses the eventual possibility of taking pictures of the "mind's eye."

To get everyone else involved, Google's Solve for X Google+ page lets users discuss some of the ideas floated for the program and offer up some of their own ideas.

What's unclear right now, however, is what Solve for X will eventually become. Google is currently only calling the service a "forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork," and has not said if anything will actually come out of it. Still, it's worth checking out the site if you want to hear about some of the really neat ideas that, while currently impossible, might not be coming sooner than you think.