ge has been awarded for two new products which demonstrate original solutions for people living off-grid and in resource-constrained environments. The live judging of the Aid Innovation Challenge was led by Michael Pritchard MBE – inventor of the Lifesaver Waterbottle.

The Individual Entry was presented to Arne Pauwels, Founder of Wakati – who designed a storage system that reduces post-harvest losses of fruit and vegetables by over 20 percent. The Wakati ‘chambers’ use two litres of water, a small amount of fungicide and a 3 watt solar panel – to protect the produce of smallholder farmers and market vendors from climate, pests and diseases. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, 45% of fruits and vegetables in developing countries perish before reaching the consumer.

Arne Pauwels, Founder & Product Manager at Wakati:

“In Swahili, Wakati means ‘time’. We wanted to find an affordable way of prolonging the time fruits and vegetables could be preserved – using a fraction of the usual energy and materials. The key to avoiding food waste – which has negative economic, ecological and humanitarian consequences – is to innovate using current technology, rather than try and reinvent the wheel.”

 

The Business Entry was won by Deciwatt for their GravityLight – a device that generates light through the gravitational pull of a weighted bag. It takes only three seconds to lift the weight that powers GravityLight, creating 25 minutes of light on its descent. Critically, it can be used any time of day – with no running costs. The first version of the device has been used successfully in a global trial of 7000 households over two months. It can also be adapted to power an AM/FM Radio, charge AA batteries or provide energy for a water purifier.

Félix Beaulieu, Chief of Strategy and Operations, Deciwatt:

“About 1.3 billion people in the world have no access to the adequate energy sources. Lighting can take up to 20% of the family income while causing a ‘poverty trap’. Cheap solutions are dangerous as kerosene lamps can easily cause fire and have negative impact on health. Therefore, we tried to create cheaper and more robust light system. Our biggest challenge was to bring the price of our lamp down while using common materials. After four years of research we are happy to sell our gravity lamp at a cost as low as 9 US Dollars.”