I’ll admit it, this wasn’t easy to write. Whether it is a Fitbit for your dog, a robot that delivers your toilet paper when you need it most, or a voice-activated faucet for your kitchen, CES knows how to attract the absurd. What I wanted to feature was brilliant innovations that could be useful outside of the bubble of Silicon Valley craziness.
I was hoping to find more, but only three made the list of most useful and brilliant for an everyday household.
A bike helmet with an SOS signal
Livall has made a smart helmet for your bike, skateboard, or e-scooter that has front, rear lights and indicator lights, an SOS distress button, and automatically calls for help with your GPS location if you get into an accident. Simply brilliant and useful.
Early warning device for leaks in your home
Given I woke up to six inches of water in our basement over the holidays, this device would have saved us a lot of time and expense. The Phyn Smart Water Assistant attaches to any pipe in your home and automatically detects if there are leaks and notifies you of a change of pressure or excessive water usage in your home. Simply brilliant and saves you money too.
A prosthetic arm you control with your mind
I won’t pretend to understand this, and it is a little Black Mirror-esque for me, but if their claims are as real as their pitch, this is pretty incredible. Watch this video: BrainCo’s Dexus is a prosthetic arm that you can think your way to controlling. It is now moving into production and expects FDA approval later this year. Simply brilliant and life-changing.
When I am designing innovation labs and creative experiences for companies I always like to ask the important “so what?” question. If you can’t articulate the impact to profit, revenue, customers lives, or market share you are wasting your time. I explore more how to accelerate innovation in my new book Rapid Growth, Done Right: Lead, Influence and Innovate for Success, Kogan Page, which launches in May 2020. You can pre-order here Amazon US and amazon.co.uk.
What brilliant innovations does your team have their eye on developing this year?
Dedicated to growing your business,
Val
P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/