The builder's path
For: Families in B.C. can't easily find which nearby child-care spaces are $10 a day, or what they'll really pay after subsidies.
“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in British Columbia.
Step 1
Find a lab or university incubator
Researchers and students who can test it properly.
Advice and funding for technology innovation in Canada.
Funded research internships linking students with organisations.
Tax credits that return part of what a Canadian business spends on research and development.
Federal open data: the numbers a builder needs to size and test a public problem.
Step 2
Win a research grant
Funding for a rigorous trial or study.
British Columbia's innovation agency, including challenges posed by public bodies.
Funded research internships linking students with organisations.
Federal open data: the numbers a builder needs to size and test a public problem.
Quebec's AI institute in Montreal; partners with organisations on applied AI projects.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
The province's map of licensed child-care facilities.
Advocacy and plain-language explainers on the programmes.
Its spokesperson is quoted on the gaps families face.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in British Columbia, Canada. Problem: Families in B.C. can't easily find which nearby child-care spaces are $10 a day, or what they'll really pay after subsidies. Who it hurts: Parents of young children across British Columbia looking for affordable care. The moment it hurts: Searching for care before going back to work, and finding that what a centre charges depends on programmes they don't understand. What people do today: Parents call centres one by one; only a small share of spaces are $10 a day, and other fees depend on reductions and income-tested subsidies. Why it is still unsolved: Three programmes combine differently for each family and centre, and the $10-a-day list is frozen, so availability and price are hard to see together. What solved looks like: A map of B.C. child-care centres showing which are $10 a day and which offer fee reductions, plus a calculator that estimates a family's monthly cost at each after the subsidies they qualify for, and where to apply. Where: British Columbia, Canada First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“You cannot step twice into the same river.”
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light.”
असतो मा सद्गमय। तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय।
asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“Let a person lift themselves up by their own self.”
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं
uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Speak the truth. Do what is right.”
सत्यं वद। धर्मं चर।
satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.