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Without providing specific recipes, Eric Schmidt laid out a few possibilities, including a site for medicine similar to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which lets users collectively contribute and edit entries.
Eric Schmidt, the head of Google, has criticised newspapers for dropping the ball in their internet operations, as he attempted to diffuse a growing row over the website's news service.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) in San Diego, Mr Schmidt said that while he was "very impressed" by how quickly newspapers adopted the internet, "the criticism is that there wasn't an act after that".
"It's obvious to me that the majority of newspaper content should be online rather than printed. There's no distribution cost, it doesn't cost anything to read it online," he added.
The Google chief executive called on the newspaper bosses to engage with readers more thoroughly to boost their internet arms. "These are consumer businesses and if you piss off enough of them you will not have them anymore," he said. He also condemned many of the sites over the quality of their technology. "I think the sites are slow, they are slower than reading the paper. That can be worked on, on a technological basis."
Mr Schmidt, a "passionate believer in newspapers and their role in democracy", adopted a conciliatory tone. "We think we can build a business with you. That is the only solution we can see," he said.
The newspaper industry has been at loggerheads with Google News and other websites that aggregate news stories, but Mr Schmidt was given a relatively easy ride in the question and answer session that followed his keynote speech. This week, Rupert Murdoch, whose empire includes The Times and The Wall Street Journal, asked whether Google should be allowed "to steal all our copyrights? Thanks but no thanks". The view was echoed by Associated Press, which has railed against the "misappropriation" of its content by online news services.
Dean Singleton, the chairman of Associated Press and MediaNews Group, referenced the Oscar-winning movie Network when expressing his rage over web firms using its articles. "We are mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more," he said in a speech to the NAA. AP went further, saying it would pursue "legal and legislative remedies" against those it thought was using its material unfairly.
Alexander Macgillvray, Google's associate general counsel for products and intellectual property, has mounted a stout defence. "We drive traffic and provide advertising in support of all business models – whether news sources choose to host the articles with us or on their own websites."
Mr Schmidt added: "The ultimate resolution of this is how you interpret 'fair use'. From our perspective, there is always a tension around fair use – and fair use is a balance of interest in favour of the consumer."
He expressed confusion over AP's threats of legal action. "At Google we have a multimillion-dollar deal with AP so I was a little confused by all of the excitement in the news in the last 24 hours. I'm not quite sure what they are referring to. We have a very, very successful deal with AP and hope that will continue for many, many years."
The newspaper industry across the globe been smashed by the financial downturn, hit by rising costs of printing and a drop-off of advertising revenues. In the UK, publishers have slashed overheads and cut jobs, with regional titles suffering especially from a drop in classified advertising.
The situation is worse still in the US. The Tribune, which publishes the Los Angeles Times, has filed for bankruptcy protection, while the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have both shut, with more under threat.