Innovation for Our Future

𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬.

Supermarkets face challenge of liquidating the stocks before they shoot the expiry date by promoting these products by offering higher discounts which would need the staff to manually paste the stickers making it time consuming and laborious.

Realizing this problem, students from National Taipei University of Technology developed Barcodiscount which uses color-changing ink technology and displays different discounts as expiration date nears.

This color changing discount was found to reduce the waste by ~33% and also increase the revenue by around 6.3% making it really a win-win to all.

Kudos to 3 students for thinking out of the box on such an Innovative solution tackling food wastage.

𝐏𝐢𝐳𝐳𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐱𝐞𝐬

Globally Dominos sells around 3 million Pizzas a day according to their website. That is around 1.1 billion pizzas a year. Now add the other Pizza food chains into it and you can estimate the magnitude of pizzas people eat.

Due to Covid19, the take-away and online orders have increased thus inviting for more pizza boxes.

With an innovative approach of going eco friendly, a Phillipine Cafe, The BrickOven Café is now serving its pizzas in handwoven reusable boxes made using pandan leaves. This alternate to Pizza cardboard boxes is also bringing the local weaving industry an extra source of income. Customers can reuse the box at the restaurant and receive a discount for going eco-friendly route.

Microbiologist Phil Ross is working to develop sustainable construction material from root-like fibers of mushrooms. The Root-like fibers of mushrooms which is called mycelium is lightweight, water resistant, fire-proof material that is an effective insulator.

A archway was a 6x6 foot sculpture titled Mycotectural Alpha, first man-made structure is made entirely out of mushrooms. It is also said that these bricks made out of Fast-growing mushrooms are stronger than Concrete.

Kudos to the Innovation and Innovator for this International Patent pending product !!

In Africa, 95% of people own a mobile phone despite lack of electricity supply and people travel for around 2-4 hrs for charging. They also spend 10-20% of their income on their energy needs like purchasing kerosene.

Addressing these major challenges faced by people in rural Africa, a startup Yolk has developed an innovative solution called 'Solar Cow' of rewarding parents for sending their children to school.

Solar Cow installed at schools where children plug their power banks to charge while they study and take them back home to charge mobile phones, radio, tv and provide light at night.

This innovative solution has reduced kerosene burning and their expenses and has thus increased the attendance rates and student registration rates by 8% and 10%.

Kudos to the team for tackling such an important issue in rural regions of Africa.

Irrigation in dry lands a possibility in Future

Researchers at Texas may have found a way to water plants in dry areas with soil additive Super-Moisture-Absorbent Gel (SMAG) which when mixed into the ground, will absorb water from the air to plants.

The Gel functions similar to dew, which is formed due to air temperature difference during day and night. When the air cools at night, it loses its ability to hold moisture and excess moisture will condense out onto surfaces, forming dew and the gel absorbs the moisture and doesn't allow it to evaporate, instead releases water into the soil.

Researchers have already successfully grown radish on the roof of a building in Texas, however for commercial application in large fields further research is still required.

Congratulations to the researchers and hope to see the mass scale experimentation a success which could then allow crops grown in dryer climates, where irrigation was not considered.

Getting access to clean drinking water is a challenge still in many parts of rural areas. A WHO report indicated around 29% of population lack even a basic drinking-water service.

But what if clean drinking water can be created directly from sun and air ?

A company Source has developed has developed Hyrdropanel that makes, stores, and dispenses clean, mineral water.

Fan is powered Using Solar energy which draws air from surrounding and traps water vapor using water absorbing material. The vapor is then condensed into liquid and collected adding minerals into it.

Simple, but really could solve one of the most important problem of drinking clean drinking water.

Kudos to the team of Source.

Did you know Tyre Wear is 2nd largest microplastic pollutant in our ocean. It is produced every time we brake, accelerate or turn through corners. Innovative startup Tyre collective is working on solution which can capture almost 60% of this airborne particles.