I like your idea; I want to improve your odds of getting funding I will vote for your idea if you will vote for mine. My idea is for a web site that raises money for inventors and entrepreneurs called New Idea website Check out my idea blob submission and visit New Idea Website and see what I can do for you. http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/4060-NEW-IDEA-WEBSITE The need for jobs is one of the biggest problems that a democratic government faces because creating jobs is an unwanted byproduct of business and industry. The reason I say its unwanted is the more jobs a business creates the more its expenses are and the smaller it’s bottom-line. If business and industry have their way they would run their companies with no jobs at all no management or labor. To deal with this dilemma I pr…moreopose a federal venture capital carrot fund that literally pays entrepreneurs to create jobs. The investment bank would be expected invest in seed level startup projects like yours and to lose money at a specified dollar per jobs ratio for example during hard times that figure may be as high as $20,000 per job and good times the figure may be as low as five dollars per job, by controlling this ratio the fed could roughly control unemployment. The bank will be expected to fund novel products and services and stay away from things like restaurants that will simply draw jobs from other restaurants or moving factories from one part of the country to another. If you like this idea vote for it and send the congressional letter from the website. Sincerely Frank Scruggs

You certainly address a market need as lost luggage is not only an inconvenience, but also quite costly to any traveler. Have you done any market research to find out what the percentage of lost luggage is or average value of the lost luggage? This will be important as you determine what the RFID technology would sell for and how it relates to cost of goods sold. I would imagine many travelers take with them well over a hundred dollars worth of clothes and accessories and business travelers would likely boost that cost due to traveling with suits and perhaps office accessories in their luggage. The question is how much would someone pay for the technology as a percentage of the value of the luggage over a period of time. These types of questions need to be researched. Census Bureau m…moreight give you an idea of how much luggage is lost over a year, what airports and airlines tend to be the best and worst, and what percentage is reclaimed. With respect to the technical feasibility, RFID technology can be very difficult to ensure successful interrogation of the tags. For example, certain materials such as steel may deflect the signal and render the reading impossible. A lot of luggage appears to be made out of various types of cloth which works in the traveler’s favor; however, it also requires the RFID tag to be durable enough to sustain luggage being tossed around. Additionally, power is a significant obstacle for many RFID technology vendors. If you haven’t already done so, you need to research whether these will be active, passive or semi-passive tags. There are many tradeoffs that will have to be considered in terms of power, percentage of successful interrogations, distance that the signal will travel and the required infrastructure. The chips would require a power source and if batteries are the solution, the weight will be an important factor as airlines are increasingly charging passengers based on luggage weight. The solution to this could be a rechargeable pack (similar to a rechargeable laptop battery) embedded in the luggage, but again, how much would the pack weigh? Perhaps you could partner with RFID manufacturers that already have a presence in the market and could help you penetrate the market easier and also reduce start up costs. Since you’re in an entrepreneurship class, I would imagine you’ve already discussed the tradeoffs of this type of approach, but it’s simply something that must be considered. I’d recommend checking out Alien Technology and also look into what airports already have conducted pilot programs to analyze the concept’s feasibility. These are simply things to think about. You’ve identified an excellent market need, it’s just a matter of performing the due diligence necessary to ensure it can be done in a cost effective manner.