Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has launched a new website, called Solve for X, which is designed to encourage techies and other big thinker to discuss big solutions for big problems.

Maybe you’ve been pondering a global solution to a software hacking problem? Maybe you’re close to developing a technological solution to famine caused by climate change. How about a way to predict and suppress earthquakes?

That’s exactly the kind of discussion the forum would welcome. Google says no suggestion will be off limits on the website, even if it hews more to science fiction than reality. If technology exists that might at least offer some hope of addressing a problem, the subject can gain traction of Solve for X.

Much like the biannual Technology, Entertainment, Design conferences, better known as TED, Solve for X was born out of a recent effort to bring experienced entrepreneurs, innovators, and scientists together to discuss technological solutions to some of the world’s major problems. But unlike TED, where participation is by invitation only, Google’s Solve for X opens the brainstorming session to the world. Participants can join at wesolveforx.com or via a dedicated  Google+ page.

Possible upsides for Google

That’s one way to drive traffic to Google’s social network. It could even help Google+ tap into an overlooked user market and new sources of advertising revenue in social media. But Google’s ambitions likely are higher. The search company has long been interested in novel technologies such as its plug-in hybrid initiative, which demonstrated how technology can be used to promote renewable energy. Solve for X also could help Google and other companies identify talent while providing an umbrella organization to manage developing projects.

It’s unclear what policies Google has in place to protect its interest and the interests of those who might offer their expertise to problems presented via Solve for X, although most of the participants likely to participate in the project are already well acquainted with the potential rewards and pitfalls of open-source-style information sharing.

One major potential plus, of course, would be if Solve for X gestates a technology breakthrough on the level of the “moon shot.” If that happens, Google advertisers and investors would be among the beneficiaries.