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| Richard Branson (Photo credit: D@LY3D) |
All three would gain investment as well as mentoring with Richard Branson to help them develop their ideas. The finalists consisted of some great ideas.
The finalists were 'Buffalo Grid' which has created a 'solar-powered hub' which enables people living off the electricity grid in remote places such as Africa to power their mobile phones without having to trek miles to charge their device. When you consider the impact that mobile phones have had on the African economy (e.g. a farmer can check the prices of his crops by text message before he walks to market to see if the price is good enough. Or, payments can be made via mobile phone in Kenya), the fact that people could now charge their mobile phones when miles from the nearest town through these solar-powered units would bring much greater connectivity for millions of people around the world.
The second finalist was 'CubeSat' which is a project to create a 10cm2, 3D printed satellite to make launching satellites into space for small projects viable. This idea would bring the cost of making a satellite casing down by 75%. Currently, satellite cases for CubeSat devices cost about $2,500.
Finally, the '3/7 (Three over Seven)' project is to produce customised, personalised soles for your shoes using 3D printing. The customisation begins by scanning your feet using a smartphone The scan is then used to print shoes which fit you exactly. This invention typifies the possibly that there will soon be millions of markets serving very small numbers of people, which is the opposite of our previous world of 'mass markets'.
To see which idea won first prize, watch the video below!
You can read more about 'Three New Things' here
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