1) Chewing gum has problems with short-lasting flavor, wasteful packaging, and high sugar content. 2) Possible value additions include adding medicinal properties to gum for stress/pain relief, vitamin delivery, or prescribed drug delivery. Gum could also generate electricity from chewing to charge devices. 3) A more sustainable gum could be created that is 100% biodegradable with recycled paper wrappers and gum that dissolves over time for easy disposal.

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Venture Labs – Crash Course on Creativity
Professor Tina Seelig, Stanford University
Chewing Gum Exercise Assignment 3
May 12, 2013

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3. Comes in all shapes, sizes, colors and flavors
and uses!

4. Current problems with gum:
• Flavor doesn’t last
• It’s wasteful – the wrappers, packaging, and properly disposing of the gum?
(some forms of gum are prohibited in Singapore)
• High sugar content, not necessarily nutritious

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Current Property of Chewing Gum:
Flavor / Taste. Use one of chewing gum’s inherent properties something
you put in your mouth, chewing, tasting and swallowing.
Value Add:
Add in medicinal properties to the gum to add value. Can be created with
pharmaceutical medicines.
• Stress / pain relief – not only is the gum already a stress reliever but also
add in medicine that acts on pain (advil, aspirin, etc)
• Vitamins – for children, etc (make the gum ok to swallow, or have it
dissolve over time)
• Prescribed drug delivery system
• Thinking / creative gum – can have nicotine, caffeine,
• Diabetes patients can chew to get insulin instead of shots
• LSD, THC other drug delivery systems for patients, etc
• Help patients with phobias, etc.
• Skip a meal? Chew gum - add in all the vital proteins, vitamins and
minerals. Make the gum dissolve or safe to swallow.
• Toothpaste – gum has antiseptic properties, cleans teeth and gums

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Current Property of Chewing Gum:
Chewing gum involves using your mouth muscles. Let’s adapt this physical
work to create added value.
Value Add:
Reframed, it’s not really gum but a device that you can chew like gum and
in chewing it, you create energy (electricity) that can be then reused.
• Charge a battery, chew it for awhile, take it out and hook it up to a battery,
device, usb charging station, etc.
• Create music
• Light source

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Current Property of Chewing Gum:
Chewing gum is often wasteful with plastic packaging, and disposal of the
gum itself can also be a problem.
Value Add:
Create a 100% sustainable gum that is biodegradable
• Wrappers made of recycled paper
• Gum is dissolves over time or stickiness decreases over time
• Can be disposed of in trash, used for compost