ITIC has been commissioned by the international NGO Field Ready to conduct research to develop a better design for Heavy Lifting Airbags (HLA). HLAs are a common tool for rescue teams in the developed world however the design of these airbags is complicated and their cost is prohibitive. Field Ready designed and built a functioning low cost HLA, from local materials, for the ‘White Helmets’ rescue team in Syria. While the airbags met British standards, and were successfully used in several life-saving operations, Field Ready engineers believe the design needs to be re-evaluated for the product to be easier to replicate and cheaper to produce.
Disinfection of harvested rainwater in rural world communities is often underdeveloped. With an estimated 1.8 billion people still drinking from contaminated sources, access to clean drinking water is one of today’s most pressing global issues.
Currently, there is no centralised method to gather these important observations and to make them available to innovators around the world. Life-changing observations, therefore, are being lost at a tremendous rate every day.