Innovation That Matters

Very little has changed about the design or application of at-home pregnancy tests since they came on the market thirty years ago. The most common innovation has been to introduce digital components which can increase the accuracy of results, though marginally, and ease of process of reading them. But these enable manufacturers to up the price of the disposable product. Now, Lia is an innovative redesign of the traditional pregnancy test created with sustainability and privacy, rather than profit margins in mind.

Lia was developed by Philadelphia-based startup Lia Diagnostics as part of an Intergrated Product Design program. The discreet, biodegradable kit begins as a credit card-sized envelope and unfolds to resemble a flexible panty-liner, giving the user a larger space to urinate on, and making the process easier. Since the product is made from cellulose it can be flushed down the toilet after use, meaning it can be disposed of discreetly and won’t end up in landfill. The results are also displayed on a larger area than traditional tests, avoiding confusion or misreadings.

At the time of writing Lia Diagnostics are seeking FDA approval and further funding. The company is hoping to have the eco-friendly kit on the market by 2017. Are there other single-use products which could be given a green redesign?

“I started my own business because I wanted to be in control of my own destiny.” — Nick Wheeler

Almost 30 years ago, Nick Wheeler started his business with an Amstrad word processor and £99, which he used to print 5,000 leaflets. Today, his premium shirting company Charles Tyrwhitt has a turnover of £190 million and 750 employees. He has invested in shoes, Christmas trees and photography.

In addition to owning the UK’s largest mail-order shirt business, his company boasts over 20 shops, from Glasgow to Madison Avenue in New York. In our recent interview with Nick, we found out what motivates him, the biggest obstacles to becoming a successful entrepreneur, and more.

1. Where did the idea for your business come from?

It came from the need to start my own business. I knew I wanted my own business. I knew I wanted to sell a product that I understood and loved. I had done shoes, Christmas trees, and photography. I was running out of loves and shirts was the next on the list

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

There is no typical working day. I don’t like the idea of there being a typical working day. I started my own business because I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. I never signed up for a typical working day. That is boring. I like every day to be different.

3. How do you unwind and relax when you are not working?

When you have your own business, it never feels like work. I do what I do because I love it. I don’t really feel the need to unwind and relax. I feel unwound and relaxed most of the time! I love swimming, running and cycling. Like in my business career, I am a true plodder in all three. I get there in the end regardless of the distance, but it takes me a very long time.

4. What’s the secret ingredient for success as an entrepreneur?

Never give up. Keep pushing. Never take no for an answer. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I love clichés because they are usually true. If you give up, you will never get there. If you never give up, you will always get there in the end.

5. What drove you crazy as you were building your business?

Never hitting the numbers. I would try so hard to forecast accurately, but the natural instinct for the entrepreneur is to be over-optimistic. The problem with over-forecasting is that you can get yourself into very scary situations. Usually involving cash (or lack of!).

6. What motivates you to keep going?

I just love the business. I have the bit between my teeth. I want to build the best shirt business in the world. I love it when people come up to me and tell me they love Charles Tyrwhitt shirts. I love it when people working in the business tell me they love working at Charles Tyrwhitt. I will never get bored of that, and I will always love it.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Loads of things! I would not have made all the really stupid mistakes that I have made. I would have told myself that I have been put on this planet to make great shirts and not to do all the other silly things that I have tried to do along the way. Focus is the most important lesson you can learn as an entrepreneur. We can get bored easily and “look for” distractions. That is a very dangerous thing.

8. Where do you see your business in five years and how will you get there?

Selling better quality shirts at better value for money than we are today. We will get there by tweaking the business every single day. Making ourselves better and better at what we do.

9. If you weren’t working on this right now, what would you be doing?

I’d like to be a farmer. Growing things from scratch.

10. Do you have any habits or routines, which help you in your working life?

I hate habits and routines. They make life boring. Unfortunately, they also make life easier. I try to clear my emails every night. It drives my family nuts.

11. What book are you reading, or writing now?

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

12. Tell Springwise a secret….

I wrote a book, but never published it. It was far too boring.

13. Any wise words for the budding entrepreneur?

Just get on with it. Too many great entrepreneurs never get going because they don’t have belief in their idea. Don’t give away the equity too early (or preferably ever). Be patient. It takes time. Rome was not built in a day. There you go – another bloody wonderful cliché!

You can read more about Nick here.

Nearly one in seven people around the world don’t have access to electricity but innovative design products such as Repurpose school bags have shown the massive potential for solar panels to provide a renewable light source, capturing the energy of the sun for use at night. Now, SULI is a modular, portable solar lighting system which is designed to fit easily with any number of 3D printed accessories — making it adaptable to the user’s needs.

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Each SULI can be charged through exposure to the sun for about eight hours, after which it can provide five meters of light reach for up to 50 hours. The module itself is a portable, self-contained disc designed to be connected easily to a variety of other objects including PET bottles, bike handlebars or windows, via affordable, 3D printed parts. Sulilab, the team behind SULI are keen to democratize the use of solar power — they have created an open source platform enabling users to create further accessories which they can share with others, and bring to life with their own 3D printing equipment. They have also launched a project deploying SULI modules in Boutin, Haiti in partnership with America Solidaria.

SULI is currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo, where pledgers can buy one SULI for themselves and donate one to Haiti for USD 85. They are also packages which include attachments such as the 3D printed bike and hanging accessories. The first devices will be delivered in April 2016. How else could 3D printing be used to make new products more adaptable?

More than 200 million children around the world are deprived of access to education before they even reach the age of five. Now, Unicoin is a charitable crytocurrency, which will enable children in more privileged parts of the world to help ensure every child gets the chance to reach their full learning potential.

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Children can earn a Unicoin by submitting a drawing and small piece of writing about their future dreams to the project, launched as part of a collaboration between UNICEF and H&M Conscious Foundation. Their sketch will be rewarded with one Unicoin, which will be spent on supplies for Early Childhood Development programs in underdeveloped communities. The project is part of the Global Program for Education, which H&M will donate USD 9.3 million to over the next three years. It is also informing kids in privileged parts of the world the importance of charity and education. UNICEF plan to distribute 20,000 learning packs with notebooks and pencils, each one earned by the creation of a Unicoin.

We have seen the Bitcoin model used for good before in the form of SolarCoin — a digital currency option that is backed by the production of solar energy, but Unicoin is the first to actively engage children in the project, enabling them to use their creativity to help their peers. Are there other age groups that can benefit from digital currency?

For those with mobility problems, navigating a complicated transport network such as London’s Tube can be incredibly intimidating. Now, London Accessible is a new app, created by design student Rebecca Grover, which combines information from three separate documents by Transport for London to create a guide to accessibility for wheelchairs, cranes and other walking aid users on the Tube.

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To begin, users fill out a profile detailing their level of mobility: specifying whether they can use stairs or escalators, and whether they need stations with elevators, accessible train cars or help getting to and from the train. Then they click on their desired station to find out if it fulfils their criteria. Grover has also created an API plug-in which enables the app to be used in combination with Citymapper so that users can search for their most convenient route.

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London Accessible was the winning project of the RSA 2015 Mobility City brief. Grover hopes to collaborate with TFL to expand the project to add bus routes and other forms of transport. We recently wrote about AXS Map — a global app which crowdsources venue reviews from its users to make the world more accessible for those with mobility problems. How else could accessibility information be made more readily available?

For those who just can’t get their heads around the intricacies of home cooking, June is a smart countertop oven which can automatically program itself to cook the food put inside it. June uses a digital camera, food recognition technology, an in-built digital scale, thermometer and Nvidia processors to recognize the raw ingredients and work out how to cook them, adjusting oven temperature and cooking time accordingly.

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June was created by Nikhil Bhogal and Matt Van Horn — former employees of Apple — and boasts a 1.0 cubic foot capacity. It can be used for baking, roasting, broiling, toasting, and slow cooking — anything from elaborate roasts to oven pizza. The smart oven is accompanied by an app which enables users to monitor their meal via their smartphone and adjust temperature or cooking time remotely. It uses carbon fiber heating, advanced insulation and convection fans to ensure maximum efficiency.

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June is currently available to pre-order for USD 1,495 — buyers are required to place a USD 95 deposit and pay the balance when the first shipments are sent out in 2016. The price will rise to USD 2,995 next month.

Inspired by the mobile gaming ecosystem, Freeform is a new music streaming platform which promotes individual albums as unique free apps full of engaging content. The service launched last week with its first six artists including including Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty and Matthew Friedberger from The Fiery Furnaces. Rather than trying to outdo other streaming giants by trumping their extensive catalogues, Freeform is mimicking the online gaming model by making the apps available for free — to attract as many initial users as possible — with the aim of converting a small percentage into paying customers.

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Each app is unique and designed in collaboration with the artist, but they all contain an album with one free play per track each day, as well as lyrics, photos, videos and digital liner notes. This content is available for free but further content such as unlimited streaming, mp3 downloads, bonus tracks or other perks are only available to customers who redeem a partner offer, as displayed in the offer bar. This model is hugely successful for online gaming apps, and if successful, could enable musicians to earn revenue without charging customers, who are increasingly averse to paying for music nowadays. Partner offers can be anything from a subscription to Rhapsody to a USD 1 voucher at Peet’s Coffee, or a trial with dating site eHarmony.

Freeform, which was created by former Google Play executive Tim Quirk, will soon morph into a self service platform, charging artists and their labels around USD 500 for a selection of tools which will enable them to create and promote their own individual app.

Are there other parts of the entertainment industry that could adopt online gaming’s model?

One of the key benefits of storing documents and files in the cloud is that they are instantly accessible by colleagues and friends. Now, FileChat is a platform which enables social, collaborative interaction in the cloud, so users can share and chat about documents in an organized, secure environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx4KFOHIThU

To begin, users sign up for an account, which they attach to either their Dropbox or Google Drive account. Then, they open the folder they need input on and invite the relevant collaborators. FileChat creates a group chat pop-up through which all parties can discuss a topic with all the relevant documents, images and other files at hand. The platform also enables users to ‘like’ files and cast votes on favorites, so the team can easily assess the popularity of ideas, therefore creating a social experience within the user’s cloud.

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FileChat is available for free as a web version and an Android app and a Beta version for iPhone is available at the App Store.

How else could people’s collaborative experience of the cloud be enhanced?

Earlier this week, we wrote about Ideal Impact, an app which aims to raise support for charitable organizations by mobilizing readers that have been inspired by online content, and pointing them in the direction of social impact opportunities. Capturing that same energy is the new Givey Share feature from the UK-based online donation platform Givey.

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Givey is a social giving platform for anyone to make donations to more than 8,000 charities by text or tweet. It passes on 100 percent of the donations. Now, Givey Share is a social fundraising feature which enables users to share digital content that has inspired them, and encourage charity donations. Users can either create new digital content — such as a pledge to run a marathon for charity — or simply copy the URL of a stirring video, image or link they have seen and paste it into Givey Share. Next, they connect this content with their preferred charity, and select the amount they want to donate — anything from a minimum of GBP 1. They can then share this on their social media channels, inspiring other people on their network and encouraging them to match their donations. Other users can then follow the link and make their own contribution to that cause, or another that they prefer, with only a few clicks.

How else could the phenomenon of digital content sharing be transformed into positive action?

There are a whole host of devices designed specifically for children, but Fuhu are hoping to set theirs apart with the USD 9.99 per month Nabi Pass Tab subscription bundle. The two year package buys users a Nabi 2S as well as unlimited content from numerous high-profile partnerships including Disney and Nickelodeon.

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Fuhu’s tablets are android devices designed for both entertainment and education. The Nabi Pass Tab includes unlimited curated movies, music, games and ebooks as well as access to Wings Adaptive Learning System, which features over 300,000 questions for pre-k to 6th grade kids covering math, reading and writing. Nabi tablets all come with drop-safe bumpers but Fuhu will also replace any broken tablet with no questions asked.

How else could businesses adapt their devices to be more kid-friendly?