Previous week was the module 7 demomarket, and so many cool ideas were showcased! Because it was the business module people didn’t just have to come up with a good idea – but also research if it could actually be a business and if people actually would want it. There were some traditional CreaTe-like projects – such as using a drone for fertilizing. Others took the opportunity of the business module to take a closer look at one of their favourite previous projects. Some people did something completely different and created a business idea that was only marginally related with technology. For those that could not be there (or those that would like a recap) I’ve presented here the coolest projects.
Blandaband
Group members: Sjoerd Baarslag, Yorrick van der Ouw, Robin van Soelen, Oliver Horst
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‘We often find ourselves lost in our digital music library, having too many albums in our favourites and too many playlists created. You could buy vinyl or CDs. They’re nice to look at, nice to browse through and are nice to have, but collecting them can be very expensive.
That’s what we want to do differently: We want to bring a cheap way of owning a physical music collection, that’s fully customizable, and that combines the best things of streaming and CD/Vinyl,
How? With the Blandaband we want to make the first form of physical music that does not contain the music on the medium itself. Where CDs contain the music on the disc, our cards contain a chip that tells our playback machine which Spotify album or playlist it needs to stream. This means that if a customer buys one of these cards he does not buy the music, but a link to the music, and therefore he does not have to pay for the rights of the songs. This allows us to sell physical albums/playlists for only €3.
To us, the most important part of owning a physical music collection is expressing yourself. Therefore, everything can be printed on these cards, either the original album cover, or an image of your holiday for you road trip playlist. Another key point is flexibility. Since the cards are only links to albums or playlists, the content of the cards be changed after purchase. So if you have a card for your favourite music, you can constantly update what it plays. This way, your favourite tracks card will always contain your favourite music. Change the playlist, change the card.’
I thought that the Blandaband was by far the coolest project available. And I wasn’t the only one. Blandaband got one of the two prizes that were handed out. Are you interested in Blandaband? Then pay attention! The group will enter their product in the UT challenge in the category prototype. And if you want to be kept up to date with their progression you can follow them on facebook under the name SYRO.
Below you find three other projects that I thought were very innovative, clever or which I just wanted to have for myself.
MAT-FUN
Group members: Niels Dikken, Gerke van Essen, Laura van der Neut en Jordi Weldink.
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‘Nowadays, people would like to invest in a sustainable economy, but some companies do not yet have a proper solution for materials they do not use, and will not use in the future. For these companies the easiest way is to deposit this as trash. On the other hand institutions ( schools, artists, workshops for disabled people) could use these materials for certain projects. Materials are often thrown away, while they can be used somewhere else. We would like to offer a solution for this problem.
Mat Fun, a non-profit organization, will act as the missing link between companies and schools or social workplaces. Mat Fun gathers materials from mostly textile and construction companies. The team of Mat Fun will then match these materials to a school or a social workplace. They can work on projects with the materials and can create something new out of it. In this way the lifespan of the materials will be longer. Mat Fun offers next to her service also a workshop in which children will be taught about a circular environment.’
PIC IT
Group members: Betina Markova, Corjan van den Brink, Kaixin Chen, Mark Kenny Williams
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‘Due to the new digital technology, nowadays people are not considering the option to print their favorite pictures anymore. They might not have enough time or to them searching for the perfect service can seem as an unneeded effort.
Pic It offers the perfect solution for that – a cheap, monthly service that will print a fixed amount of high-quality pictures every month for you. No complication, no hassle. The aim is to make printing pictures as easy as possible. You just download our app, take pictures, select your favorite ones and we do the rest.’
ARTEA
Group members: Christiaan Verloop, Adam Bako, Vladyslav Khomenko, Chulakit Dumnoenchanvanit
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‘Artea is a tea machine that brews high quality tea from loose tea leaves. The machine has a detachable canister which can be filled with a tea pod. These tea pods come in different varieties and can be bought in supermarkets and online. The machine is able to detect the tea type and changes the brew settings based on this. Leaves are dispensed from the tea pod into the glass brewing area where it is brewed to the right temperature and for the right amount of time. When the tea is done, it is dispensed down below into a maximum of two cups.
The machine will be available in electronic stores and online. This machine is targeted towards middle to high income tea drinkers, people who desire, or are used to higher quality tea. The machine will retail for €99.99 and the price of the tea pods depends on the type of tea. Our product takes advantage of the premiumization of the tea market in Europe and we hope to refine the preferences of the average tea drinker.’