Wicked Problems Demand Novel Thinking
Brilliant minds solving humanity's greatest challenges.
Welcome to Novel Thinking. We unite early-career innovators, practitioners, and experts to identify, test, and launch solutions across critical domains, from food security to climate resilience to social care.
Our story
The Spark
Novel Thinking was born from a simple yet profound realization: humanity's greatest challenges—climate change, food insecurity, healthcare crises, economic disparity—are too complex for any single discipline, generation, or perspective to solve alone.
As I watched these systemic problems intensify, I grew increasingly frustrated by the gap between our collective intelligence and our fragmented approach to solutions. Brilliant minds were working in isolation. Promising technologies sat stranded in one domain while critical problems in another went unsolved. Experience and fresh thinking rarely collaborated.
The moment of clarity came during a visit to Japan, where I encountered a revolutionary hydrogel technology—remarkable innovation languishing without application. I realized that breakthrough solutions often exist; but they are focused in only one direction or waiting for the right problem to solve.
Novel Thinking emerged from this insight: What if we deliberately brought together diverse expertise, from early-career energy, practitioner wisdom, and domain experts to AI, and empowered them to look across boundaries, invert assumptions, and experiment rapidly? What if we created a structure designed not to own solutions, but to ignite them?
We're not a think tank. We're not traditional R&D. We're a catalyst for collaborative problem-solving that refuses to accept disciplinary boundaries as barriers to innovation. Thank you for taking an interest in our endeavors. ~Linda Rix
Who We Are
We create knowledge collectives, cross-generational, interdisciplinary teams united by shared concern for critical challenges. Through rapid experimentation and practitioner-led validation, we discover solutions by looking across domains, inverting problems, and thinking counter-intuitively. When solutions prove viable, we spin them out as independent enterprises. Novel Thinking exists to ignite change, not to own it.
Our Values
Collaborative Innovation
We believe the most transformative solutions emerge when diverse minds work together, suspending disciplinary boundaries and traditional hierarchies.
Systems Thinking
We approach challenges holistically, understanding that meaningful change requires addressing root conditions, not just surface symptoms.
Generational Collaboration
We believe in the power of combining early-career creativity, practitioner expertise, and experienced wisdom to drive innovative solutions.
Continuous Learning
Every experiment, successful or not, is an opportunity to deepen our understanding. We view failure not as a setback, but as critical information. We embrace openness about our methods, challenges, and learnings, recognizing that shared knowledge accelerates collective problem-solving.
Novel Thinking is structured as a Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), a unique organizational model designed to bridge the gap between traditional nonprofit mission-driven work and for-profit innovation.
Key Characteristics:
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Prioritizes social mission over financial profit
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Allows for minority equity retention in spin-out enterprises
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Enables reinvestment of resources into future knowledge collectives
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Provides flexibility to pursue innovative solutions
How Our L3C Works
When a solution developed by a Novel Thinking knowledge collective proves viable, we support its transition into an independent enterprise. As an L3C, we can:
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Retain a small equity stake to reinvest in future innovations
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Provide ongoing strategic guidance
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Maintain mission alignment without controlling the new organization
Our Fundamental Principle
Novel Thinking exists to ignite change, not to own it. The L3C structure allows us to support transformative solutions while remaining agile and focused on discovering the next breakthrough.