Perspectives on Innovation

We recently announced that a Challenge seeking the design of an affordable solar-powered device to prevent or limit the spread of malaria had been solved.  The Challenge was posted by Mark Bent, CEO of SunNight Solar.  Mark has been in the InnoCentive spotlight before, having previously posted a Challenge to create a solar powered light source for people living in off-grid areas of the world.

Mark’s interest in eradicating malaria comes from his own personal experience, and from his ongoing desire to help the world’s most vulnerable populations.  I asked Mark to provide some thoughts on the background of this Challenge, which he has kindly done in the post below.  Next week we’ll hear from the Solver of this Challenge, Tom Kruer.

Innocentive and SunNight Solar have recently announced the results of our latest cooperative effort – development of a device to trap and kill the mosquito which is the vector for malaria. With 300-500 million cases of malaria each year, resulting in immense societal and economic costs, over a million deaths and a child in Africa dying every 30 seconds from this disease, this is an effort SunNight Solar is very pleased to push forward to the product testing and commercialization stage. Our thanks to Innocentive, as well as funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, which has made this all possible.

I also wanted to offer some insights and developments which surprised me, and once again, showed another value proposition in participating in the Innocentive platform and this unique development cycle. I lived in Africa for over two decades and have contracted malaria twice, so I have some idea of the impact this malady has on the human body. I have also had friends die and I have seen the full hospital wards, so I have some first hand knowledge of malaria. Regrettably, with global warming, the range of mosquito infestation will no doubt grow and more people will be impacted by this disease in the future, so finding new ways to attack this age old problem is essential. (more…)

By now, most InnoCentive Solvers know about Mark Bent, CEO of SunNight Solar, the company that is bringing light to people in off-grid areas of the world.  Over the last few months we’ve blogged about Mark frequently, and about the good work he’s doing in Africa and beyond.  In a phone call today about another project Mark has been working on (more on that soon), he let me know that the BOGO flashlight, created with the help of an InnoCentive Solver, will now be distributed to families living without power in the Gaza strip, through a program called Lights for Gaza.  The project was brought to Mark by students in Mexico, Egypt, India and Bethlehem, who are part of Engineers Without Borders.  This rapidly expanding grass roots effort aims to push back the darkness, after the destruction of much of Gaza electrical distribution infrastructure during the recent 22 days of fighting.  With the majority of the 1.3 million inhabitants of Gaza fearfully waiting out the nights without light, or forced to use candles or makeshift kerosene lanterns for illumination, lighting is often overlooked as a vital part in alleviating humanitarian suffering and allowing families to regain a minimal quality of life.

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Many of you have been impacted by the story of SunNight Solar, and their BoGo light (Buy One, Give One). Founded by former US Diplomat Mark Bent, SunNight Solar uses the latest scientific advances in solar and lighting technology to provide light to people in developing countries. When you purchase a light from them, they match your purchase and send a light to the location of your choice. SunNight Solar posted a Challenge to the InnoCentive Marketplace to improve their existing light, so that it could illuminate an entire room as well as work as a handheld flashlight. The Challenge was solved and the company has already begun production of these improved lights, less than a year after posting the Challenge. I recently asked Mark for an update on this exciting project – his thoughts are below:

My name is Mark Bent, and I posted the Challenge to improve the design of my original solar flashlight on Innocentive.  This need for improvement came as a direct result of feedback from World Bank and Department of Energy field research on my lights in Africa.  People liked the original device, but it did not replace a kerosene lantern, because it did not light up a room.  After trying, and failing, to develop a light which had this feature, I turned to Innocentive, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Within the next ten days – by the end of October 2008, we will have a second factory come on line to produce our lights – the original factory cannot keep up with the demand.  Via Innocentive, our electronics and other components are pretty amazing and the lights have been very, very welcomed by the consumer and are in use worldwide.

We are starting up a new program to get these lights to our military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan – the SL-2 – SunLight 2, or SuperBoGo, was so well received by the Marines and soldiers, we wanted to do another program to get them more lights – please see http://www.warlights.com/.  These will be camouflage lights – not a good idea to carry bright orange lights in a war zone and the combat soldiers probably would not appreciate the pink lights much either.

We continue to improve this model and will be coming out with variations in the very near future, both in appearance and in function – lights which cure jaundice in infants via blue LEDs will be the next light and we have many more versions planned.

Thanks InnoCentive and thanks to all of the customers who support our BoGo Lights and other social programs.

Best regards,

Mark

CEO – SunNight Solar
Mark Bent

http://www.sunnightsolar.com/blog/

As you may know we were thrilled to work with Mark Bent and SunNight Solar, to help them improve the Solar Powered BoGo flashlight that they are distributing in the developing world. I just read a recent blog post from Mark that I wanted to share with you all. Read it here: Lights in the Congo. It’s a moving tribute to the work he is doing, and the change that we can all make in the lives of our fellow human beings.

Some of you may already know about SunNight Solar, and their BoGo light (Buy One, Give One). Founded by former US Diplomat Mark Bent, SunNight Solar uses the latest scientific advances in solar and lighting technology to provide light to people in developing countries like Africa and Peru. When you purchase a light from them, they match your purchase and send a light to the location of your choice. Well, I thought you might be interested to know that thanks to the diligent work of Russell McMahon (a Solver in New Zealand) SunNight Solar was able to improve their existing light so that it will illuminate an entire room as well as work as a handheld flashlight. They call it the SuperBogo. The company has already begun production of these lights, less than a year after posting the Challenge on the InnoCentive website. They are due to be available in August of this year. We’re thrilled to be a part of SunNight Solar’s work, and are proud to see our Solvers getting involved in these Challenges that really make a difference!

If you’d like to learn more about the BoGo light, visit the BoGo Light website.
For more from Mark Bent on his work with InnoCentive, watch this YouTube video.

If you have recently worked on a Challenge that really made an impact on you, we’d love to hear about it. Please post your comments below.

Liz