Internationale Partnersuche
Innovation & Technologie Angebot
Safe adaptable sanitising lid for reusable bottles
Country of Origin: Italy
Reference Number: TOIT20210330001
Publication Date: 30 March 2021
Summary
An Italian monitoring system company has developed a technical solution for the actual COVID-19 emergency, helping to answer the growing hygiene necessity. The firm has developed, prototyped and is going to produce smart lids for reusable bottles. Using embedded UV-C (ultraviolet C) LEDs (light emitting diode) and a proprietary closure system, they can sanitise both bottle and content in the safest way, thanks to two use control components. Joint venture and licence agreement are sought.
Description
The Italian company, which operates in the north of Italy, where it is located since its foundation in 2013, has developed an adaptable and sanitising lid for reusable bottles. A small but efficient object that reduces the bacterial proliferation and the risk to catch infections. Tapping the button on the top of it, a short wavelength LED (light emitting diode) activates to sanitise bottle and content from germs and bacteria. The germicidal light irradiates the closed areas and forces the microorganisms to a long exposition to rays, to which they can not survive. They are tested modalities, certificated in laboratory and approved with sanitation method.
The lid can be adapted to many bottles on the market and it is useful for adult and children safe drinking. In fact, the feature that makes the lid more interesting is the adaptability: it can fit different types of bottles thanks to a particular closure mechanism, making it a versatile product for the consumer market. This is a completely new way to apply intelligent to a daily use object: every bottle can gain value and be useful in a second mode.
The company background is relative to the development of monitoring systems for (public) critical infrastructures (aqueducts, purification plants, lifts, measuring points and other). Recently it has expanded its activity to other sectors like smart farming, sustainable mobility and dietary supplements, where it found the possibility to space on techniques like machine learning, artificial intelligence, IoT and system integration. The firm has lately enlarged its staff, employing young and dynamic resources and it intends to continue to invest on human capital. At present the company can count on two computer programmers, a digital manufacturing designer, a microbiologist as well as on the experience and competence of the founder and owner system programmer.
The desire to move to new markets has inevitably brought the company to experiment with consumer products, keeping the possibility to add a human-object interaction as the core of past activities of the business is. Due to the actual pandemic it has been quite easy to understand on which type of feature to concentrate: hygiene.
Currently the prototyping phase is ongoing thanks to the collaboration of experienced companies: the choose of the final design is almost at the end and the electronic part is defined. The project can give the highest benefits right during this global crise moment with the double aim to protect and feel safe the user as well as reactivate the single-use plastic substitution process. The company is looking for industry/small-medium enterprises interested in idea, values and aims on which this project is based and prepared to bring it up together.
The company is looking for partners that can help it to finalise the lid launch (through joint venture and/or licence agreement) on foreign markets.
Advantages and Innovations
The lid project aims to meet social needs of population and environment, with a twofold benefit:
- the virus spread has required major attention to hygiene in public spaces, contact with surfaces and direct interactions with other persons. The lid is a way to protect people even during those situations where there are no organised arrangements yet (stations, parks, swimming pools etc.), reducing avoidable discomforts and making them at ease;
- since the first lockdown new regulations have made compulsory the use of plastic/paper disposable glasses. Although more hygienic, they defeat the attempt to avoid pollution and waste, especially in big coffee chains and travel restorations like Starbucks or Autogrill. The cleaning lid is a method that permits a safe use of own bottles/travel mugs at the bar desk, preserving the environment.
The innovative aspects of the offered product are even what make it competitive on the market:
- it is the world's first adaptable lid on the market. An experienced design company has developed the mechanism closure specifically for this use case. It permits the lid to be an adaptable versatile product to the most used bottles on the market;
- the technology is scalable on other drinking containers like travel mugs and wide mouth bottles. It is a stand-alone product that can be sold without supports and be used on the preferred bottle, saving space, costs and carbon dioxide emissions caused by production system;
- the scientific literature demonstrates how higher nanometer (280-290, exactly the ones used by competitors) has less effectiveness on bacteria and viruses; the proposed lid adds quality thanks to the choose of a 275nm Light Emitting Diode;
- the UV (ultraviolet) light can be activated only when the lid is fixed on the bottle: two controls (a light sensor and a Hall-effect sensor) avoid the risk of contact with eyes and skin and make it safe for adults and children, differently from the competitors' products.
Stage Of Development
Under development/lab tested
Stage Of Development Comment
The company is in the middle of the process of the project development. Many phases have been concluded:
- market analysis: the lid is considered as complementary accessorise to the reusable bottles or travel mugs; this market offers a considerable serie of standardised products addressed to a bigger group of needs;
- concept;
- designing, 3d modelling: the part that had more attention is the closure mechanism which influences the external shape of the lid, too.
The current phase regards:
- prototyping: thanks to 3d printing the designer and technical team is able to adjust some features connected to functionality and ergonomic and some technical finishing required for the moulding process;
- electronic: the technical and programming team is working on a prototypical electronic with a compact dimension, able to fit the lid and contain all the needed components like sensors, LEDs, charging port etc. that have been carefully chosen from industry-leading suppliers.
The next phase will be the production, which is expected to start in May 2021. It includes the creation of varied moulds for the production of all the components that form the lid.
In the same period the company intends to start the marketing campaign so that to have enough time to create visibility on the market.
Requested partner
The company lets itself the liberty to keep in consideration two types of partnerships: joint venture agreement (the favourite one) and/or license agreement.
In case of joint venture, the firm aspires to find a partner of modest dimension and with a famous name, that has the possibility to give value during the phase of commercialisation of the product, as well as economically sustain the production. This type of partnership conduces to the creation of a joint venture agreement with the purpose to bring up the project to its two last phases within 2021 and continue with the selling strategy of the proposed product implementing a subdivision of risks and profits. The ideal partner is a company known at European or worldwide level that operates in the sectors of health, sport, camping, hygiene, beverage, restoration or other categories that can find consistence in the UV lid features. The firm can directly contribute to the commercialisation and launch on the market thanks to the notoriety of its own brand and to the relevance of the own current activity. It will be responsible for implementing marketing strategies, concurred inside the joint venture especially for the promotional campaign. Furthermore, the candidate company must be able to financially sustain the series production of the lids, from the realisation of industrial moulds to the packaging. The production phase can happen in third-party factories.
The second type of partnership considered is the licence agreement, a deal that has more possibilities to occur, since it is recognised it is not extremely easy to satisfy the first request (joint venture agreement). This partnership aims to the completion just of the productive phase and does not include the commercialisation phase (branding, promotion, selling etc.). The licensor grants the faculty to produce and distribute the proposed product with the aim to find reference manufacturing points firstly at European level, then worldwide.
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