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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

The innovators

A weekly column showcasing innovation and the role it plays in business success.You can read our archive of The innovators columns here or on the Big Innovation Centre website where you will find more information on how Big Innovation Centre supports innovative enterprise in Britain and globally.

22 March 2015

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  • Perry Carroll, founder of The Solar Cloth Company, sits on a car park roof covered with his solar panels.

    Solar sails set course for a new journey into renewable energy

    Perry Carroll of The Solar Cloth Company tells Shane Hickey why his flexible solar sail panels can generate energy not only at on sea but on millions of spaces on land

15 March 2015

  • James Chen at Adlens

    Spec savers? The glasses that can change prescription

    An Adlens innovation means spectacle wearers could soon change the strength of focus on their glasses at the turn of a dial

8 March 2015

  • Luis von Ahn shows off Duolingo on his iPhone.

    Learning the Duolingo – how one app speaks volumes for language learning

    Around 70 million people have so far signed up to Duolingo – the app which applies the language of computers to help students learn a foreign language for free

1 March 2015

  • Scott White, CEO of PragmatIC Printing, holds a piece of plastic film printed with approximately 2,000 integrated circuits

    Cheap and ultraslim circuits could make the internet of things a reality

    From medicine to legal documents, cheap microcircuits could revolutionise how we interact with everyday objects

22 February 2015

  • StoreDot, an Israeli startup that builds technology capable of charging mobile phones in 30 seconds at the company's lab in Tel Aviv.

    Dead phone battery? Welcome to the tiny charger that ends a big problem

    Nanotechnology has been harnessed by Israeli firm StoreDot to develop a battery that can be charged in just 60 seconds

15 February 2015

  • Laurence Kemball Cook, of Pavegen Systems

    No need to tread lightly: the tile lighting up football in Rio and stations in France

    Guardian talks to 29-year-old creator of Pavegen kinetic tile, which is harnessing energy from footsteps to power floodlights, electronic devices and more

8 February 2015

  • Miito heats liquids directly in the vessel, cutting energy use and not heating water that will not be used, like most kettles.

    Boiling point: redesigning the kettle for the 21st century

    Nils Chudy and Jasmina Grase believe their Miito can revolutionise the way we heat food and drastically reduce energy consumption

1 February 2015

  • Woman eating grasshopper

    Are Britain’s foodies ready to eat insects?

    The innovators: Low carbon footprint and production cost are frequent arguments used by those lobbying for insects to be eaten as part of the western diet

25 January 2015

  • Designer Solveiga Pakstaite, who has developed a bio-reactive food expiry label called Bump Mark.

    The packaging bump that could cut a 4m tonne mountain of UK food waste

    Industrial design graduate Solveiga Pakstaite’s Bump Mark uses a gelatine-based label to let consumers know when food has passed its prime

18 January 2015

  • Peter Brewin (L) and Will Crawford (R), founders of Concrete Canvas

    Gimme shelters ... the inflatable concrete that’s spread across the world

    The Innovators: Concrete Canvas, a fabric that hardens when sprayed with water, can be used to assemble fireproof and waterproof structures within 24 hours

11 January 2015

  • Revellers talk to a friend being treated in an ambulance outside a Cardiff night spot.

    Cutting crime: surgeon’s research that helps stop street violence

    Prof Jonathan Shepherd’s pioneering research helped cut violence in Cardiff by 40% – now he wants R&D thinktanks linking up public policy across the UK

4 January 2015

  • PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel, left, and Elon Musk in 2000.

    Modern tech entrepreneur decries old way of learning and thinking

    PayPal co-founder and start-up investor Peter Thiel muses on why luck in business and investing is bad thing

28 December 2014

  • Alon Cohen and Adi Tatarko

    Houzz: the website that speaks the language of home improvement

    Husband and wife Adi Tatarko and Alon Cohen hit on idea for bringing homeowners together with architects, builders and interior decorators

21 December 2014

  • Goods made from leather-alternative Pinatex, designed by Carmen Hijosa

    Wearable pineapple fibres could prove sustainable alternative to leather

    The innovators: With leather becoming a luxury, felt-like fibre Piñatex can be made into shoes, bags, chairs and even car upholstery

14 December 2014

  • Unready meals, courtesy of Hello Fresh.

    Food shopping online turns to unready meals on wheels

    The Innovators: an array of firms now deliver boxes of specific ingredients with easy-to-follow recipes for time-poor workers to cook at home

7 December 2014

  • Singapore traffic Benjamin Sheares Bridge

    How GPS and smart card data is used to reduce city transport congestion

    California-based Urban Engines have developed a system of data analysis to help spread the flow of traffic in Singapore and Sao Paulo, reports Shane Hickey

30 November 2014

  • The Seaboard Grand

    The innovators: the rubber piano playing a different groove

    Roland Lamb’s touch sensitive instrument allows the musician to manipulate pitch, timbre and volume through the fingertips

23 November 2014

  • View CEO Rao Mulpuri/The Innovators

    Smart glass offers window of opportunity for View

    The innovators: Savings on lighting, electricity, heating, ventilation and air conditioning can amount to 23% at peak times, says maker of Dynamic Glass

16 November 2014

  • Tony Fadell and the Nest thermostat

    Father of the iPod adopts the household thermostat and smoke alarm

    Tony Fadell at California-based Nest has been smartening up once-dull household appliances to save households time and money

9 November 2014

  • Simon Berry of ColaLife, in Zambia

    How ColaLife learned to think outside the crate

    The award-winning charity used to distribute medicines packaged with Coke bottles to remote rural areas, but it had to adapt and move on as it became more successful
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