NLS commercial director Ian Rippin issued the following comment: “We are delighted to present this award to Red Button Design. Science innovation is at the heart of what we do at NLS and our support of this award underlines our passion for developing new ways of doing things. Congratulations to our worthy winners, Red Button Design.”
In addition there's a little voxpop below which was taken on the night (and demonstrably, by my near-laughter, fairly late on in the night, well after the bar opened!)
"You don't have to be rich & you don't have to be an army... If you find yourself in a situation that needs to be changed, if you're willing to offer your life for it - you might actually get something done."
- Bernice Johnson Reagon. (3m40s)
“Inspired by the idea that wisdom is the greatest gift one generation can give to another, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman interviewed, photographed and filmed 50 of the world's great writers, actors, artists, designers, politicians, musicians and religious and business leaders of our time. He posed seven questions to each of his subjects - all over 65 years of age”
I got the Book / DVD combination of this project for Christmas and can thoroughly reccommend it. It is certainly worth 5 minutes of your morning to watch the video below. If you like it, go buy it!
Much of our collected media has already been retrospectively uploaded for your instant gratification. However, we hope to make available updated shots of the prototype, film from our travels to trial sites and launch video blogging, very shortly.
Water is essential for life. Yet many millions of people around the world face water shortages. Many millions of children die every year from water-borne diseases and drought regularly afflicts some of the world's poorest countries. The world needs to respond much better. We need to increase water efficiency, especially in agriculture. We need to free women and girls from the daily chore of hauling water, often over great distances. We must involve them in decision-making on water management. We need to make sanitation a priority. This is where progress is lagging most. And we must show that water resources need not be a source of conflict. Instead, they can be a catalyst for cooperation. Significant gains have been made but a major effort is still required. that is why this year marks the beginning of the 'Water for Life' Decade. Our goal is to meet the internationally agreed targets for water and sanitation by 2015, and to build the foundations for further progress in the years beyond.
This is an urgent matter of human development and human dignity. Together we can provide safe, clean water to all the world's people. The world's water resources are our lifeline for survival and for sustainable development in the 21st century. Together, we must manage them better."
- Kofi Annan,
This statement was issued on World Water Day, 22nd March, 2005 but sadly is just as applicable now, 4 years later. To watch the video clip, click the photograph above.
World Water Day is held on March 22nd annually, focusing on a different water issue each year.
It's Social Enterprise Day today. Possibly the most exciting day of enterprise week (biased? us?) because it celebrates businesses which are effectively combining commerce with social change. Companies who are, quite rightly, earning a profit from doing good in the world.
We are forever explaining to people that Red Button Design is not a charity, we’re a Company limited by shares. Why? Well we believe that the charity model works excellently for relief efforts and disaster response (think Tsunami) but for long term development projects it is an unreliable, unsustainable source of income.
By running a successful for-profit business in the humanitarian sector Red Button Design, and thousands of other social enterprises being celebrated today, can stimulate competition leading to the reliable development of more effective product and service offerings to benefit some of the world’s most under-served communities.
I'd like to share the following UNICEF video, it's only 2 minutes long and explains far better than I ever could why James and I decided to found the world's first exclusive humanitarian design agency and bring to market the "ROSS".
This year Enterprise Week has gone Global! Last year there were over 5,000 events and more than half a million people in the UK took part. This year over 70 countries signed up to run their very own versions, with an expected 13,000 events taking place, all coming under the banner of Global Entrepreneurship Week!
Here at RBD we've got a lot to cram in to the next 5 days and we'll be updating the blog as much as possible with everything we get up to. But if you can't wait to find out more - take a look at the enterprise week website or cast your eyes over the video below!
Did you miss our second, "follow-on", Dragons' Den appearance? Or maybe you just want to watch it again? Fear not! If you're based in the UK you can still catch up with how James and I are getting on with The Dragons and get a preview of our new prototype in action on BBC iPlayer until the end of November.
Our contribution to Thursday's Newsnight can be watched here via BBC i>Player until 18/09/08.
So what is the way forward for Scottish Enterprise?
"More publicity around the fact that there is this support there and yes, maybe we need a better understanding of what that busineess support is there to do and the limitations of that, and maybe fill in some of those key holes."
We've had an odd day today at RBD-HQ. We spent all morning pretending it was evening, promoting Scottish Innovation for tomorrow's edition of Newsnight Scotland. Tomorrow's show looks at the upcoming John Logie Baird Awards Programme and the shape of Scottish innovation and entrepreneurship as a whole, asking if, more than eighty years after John Logie Baird, there is enough support for young innovators.
We had the opportunity to present the ROSS to a panel including Isabell Majewsky, Gordon Brewer and Jackie McKenzie and though 'television' got in the way of any serious business networking being done, we left with a few more business cards to add to the collection. That aside, it is all fantastic publicity as we 'down tools' and start heading into the murky world of detailed design, and I can't imagine a more agreeable way to celebrate the John Logie Baird Awards than with a bit of televised innovation. Whats more, as it appears that despite being 18 times more lethal than death, CERN has not yet sucked the earth into a black hole, you'll all still be alive to tune in!
Thursday September 11th, 11pm, BBC 2 Scotland or all week on BBC i>Player
"Newsnight Scotland, presented by Gordon Brewer and Anne Mackenzie, looks in depth at topical news and current affairs from the Scottish perspective. The programme is broadcast from 2300 to 2320, Monday to Thursday."
“The Innovation Edge”, Nesta's 18 monthly conference, took place yesterday at the Festival Hall London and I was there exhibiting on behalf of RBD.
These days I go to a fair number of conferences calling for social and climate change through innovation. Listening to speakers challenging the ‘youth of today’ to step up to the plate, form enterprises and fix the problems of our parents and grandparents generations. Imagine my relief to be part of a conference that not only also spoke of these things but listened and actively supported innovation.
I think there is a gradual realisation by the Government that we are innovating in this country and need more support to continue to do so. We are working creatively in the fields of science, business and technology and thanks in no small part to NESTA we are getting great British ideas out there into the global market. There were more tickets requested for this conference than health and safety allowed NESTA to issue and it was held at the Royal Festival Hall. This was a huge event with massive ‘star’ and ‘political’ power but it pales in comparison to the volume and value of the ideas and enthusiasm of the exhibitors. No, I am not just blowing my own trumpet here. Collectively all the exhibited businesses presented a powerful voice of uncompromising change.
The speakers inlcuded Chris Powell (NESTA’s Chairman), Jonathan Kestenbaum (NESTA’s Chief Executive) Sir Tim Berners-Lee (Inventor of the WWW / personal hero of mine) and Sir Bob Geldof (Live 8 / global megastar) all of whom were amazing but I wont say too much about them as you can listen to their speaches as recorded by Nesta *Here* After the morning’s speakers I headed back to man the Red Button exhibition stall. I was thrilled at how well attended, it was! People were genuinely interested, bothering to read the sexy information leaflets James designed in their entirety before consigning them to the bottom of their briefcases and handbags and the video I created for our plasma screen (see below) was a resounding hit for which I am thankful as it took so long to ‘perfect’ that I got less than 3 hours kip the previous night. There was a constant stream of insightful and interesting questions to the extent that I didn’t seem to have a second even to pause of a sip of my coffee. And most importantly of all, I traded my stash of business cards for those of people substantially more interesting that I.
Then I happened upon on one of those opportunities which cannot survive hesitancy, PM Gordon Brown was entering the building and for a few moments everyone was standing around unoccupied. Yes, that includes Sir Bob. So barely pausing for a gulp of coffee I dashed (promotional material in hand) over to him and introduced myself and the company. As it turns out he had heard of us (score) and had some questions for me. He expressed (or cunningly feigned) a distinct interest in the project and I got a fair while to discuss our plans with him, answer his questions as well as being the open-eared recipient of his advice.
I have been meaning to post my reflections on the whole 'Unipreneurs' experience for some time now. Two things have held me back. Firstly I had to take a week off work to be with my family at a difficult time and I've been clearing the backlog of work which leaves little time for blogging but coming a close second is the fact that if I am honest I have some reservations about the competition
The competition process was as follows: 1) Fill in online application form and send supporting evidence 2) Entries are narrowed down to 100 called "Top 100" 3) Entries narrowed down to 20 called "Super 20" 4) Entries narrowed down to 10 called "Semi Finalists" 5) Semi Finalists 10 Invited to HSBC Tower for panel interview 6) Final 5 announced called "National Finalists" 7) National Finalists are filmed 8) NFs are quizzed live on stage infront of specially selected audience 9) Audience vote for winner with remote handsets at theatre seats 10) Winner announced later that evening
To my understanding this is the first time "Unipreneurs" has used this format and frankly it puzzles me for a number of reasons. From the time I submitted my application form (step 1) to the 10 Semi Finalists being announced (step 4) we did nothing. No further information was requested and no discussion was entered into, the same document is used to narrow down the top 100, 20 and 10. I understand that filtering the competition in stages, 'top 20', 'semi finalists', 'national finalists' etc is good for PR and good for the entries that made the top 100 but not the top 5 but to do so on the basis of the original document when they knew all along who would make the interview at step 5 only seems to me a little pointless at best. The Interview stage, however, was truly a joy. I blogged about it in Feb. The judges were interesting, interested insightful and the day was organised to perfection. James and I both enjoyed the fact it was held in HSBC tower Canary Wharf and felt it was worth the long journey down. Similarly the experience of being filmed for our short film which I blogged about in March was also fantastically fun.
Then comes the final. I was hugely looking forward to this event and cautious that history is indeed written by the victors I would be remiss not to point out that a)we were not victorious and b) these are my impressions and opinions alone. Upon arrival James and I had a little trouble with the hotel that had been booked for us, (or not booked as the case may be) but this was swiftly rectified and we were lead up into the finalists holding area. It was explained that the format would be as follows: A welcome address to the audience by Jenni Falconer, then one by one the judges would be introduced and welcomed to the stage (Lisa Buckingham, Editor, Financial Mail on Sunday, Dragons' Den Entrepreneur Peter Jones, Designer Wayne Hemingway and William Kendall, former CEO Green & Blacks and New Covent Garden Soup Company) Then each of the final companies would in turn have their film shown to the audience and spend 15 minutes on stage discussing their idea. We were first. We had been shown the theatre space prior to our onstage 'discussion' but not introduced to the judges. The judges had been given a DVD of the 5 introductory films prior to the final but each of the finalists had not been allowed to see the finished cut of their own film. The audience had been given a small information pack upon their arrival...
The event was simply not what we were lead to believe it would be. The onstage judges (who, I should mention, had no voting powers - only the ability to lead the voting audience) were there as I understood it to ask relevant questions and draw out answers to enlighten the audience and allow them to make a choice at the end of the evening. In reality it was like an audition for the Dragons' Den or X-factor. The questions were loaded, the tone argumentative and confrontational and whilst RBD fared surprisingly well some of these National Finalists were unfairly told their ideas were non viable. To add to this some finalists had been explicitly told that props and fliers were forbidden and then some finalists produced prototypes on stage!
Then comes the audience vote. I was surprised that a large proportion of the invited voters did not turn up and a number of voting handsets were left unused (or, as I later found, out open to double voting by entrepreneurial individuals!)
The announcement was held at a reception less than an hour later and, again, the reception was fantastically organised and the announcement and speakers were inspirational. Hew Morgan, (head of Business Banking at HSBC) specifically is a wonderfully interesting and engaging speaker. James and I stayed chatting until the free drink ran dry and went for a pizza before retiring, shattered, to our hotel.
As yet The HSBC website has still not been updated to reflect the competitions conclusion or to name the winners.
So there you have it, my run down of the event. 90% positive but in places somewhat flawed. But don't take my word for it! Some of the other finalists have blogged about their experiences too:
Well, we have be listed as finalists in the prestigious Oxford 21st Century Challenge, sponsored by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). Celebrating new technologies for global change.
We are one of 3 finalists in our track and on Wednesday James and I make the long drive south to Oxford in preparation to pitch for our lives. If you are so cruelly inclined you can watch this evil spectacle live via webcam at 3:10pm Thursday 29th November (http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/21challenge/news/Events.htm)
We have no delusions of winning, such are the companies we are up against, however we are very flattered to be able to add "finalist" to our wrap sheet against such a well regarded competition.
I was interviewed by BBC Radio again today, you can listen to the programme here. I was broadcast live at 6:40am from the floor of Lizzie’s lounge in my her dressing gown and nursing a mug of tea but if I sound groggy or not too awake, do me the courtesy of blaming the bad phone line… ;o)
You can hear the good people of the Wall Street Journal discussing our product on their weekly podcast, thankfully it's all favourable as the podcast is distributed to almost 4 million listeners worldwide!
The press wagon has been laggard getting moving on this one but over the last week, slowly and surely, the releases and announcements have been made.
