|
Natural Innovation .org works with innovators who have great ideas that have a potential to scale to have a significant impact on poverty or the environment. Most of the innovations we work with are focused on developing countries, and many of the innovators are based there.
We incubate these innovators to help them bring the idea to realisation. We link innovators with resources - including grants; volunteers (especially technical); finance and strategic partners.
Some of the innovators and innovations we are working on appear here, (some others are still in stealth)
In addition we work on projects that can change the landscape for support and funding for such innovators. For example addressing licensing issues, or developing component technologies that multiple innovators need.
|
|
UV Aquastar - affordable water treatment |
 |
 |
 |
|
 UV Aquastar has designed simple, affordable devices that treat water with ultra-violet light, killing pathogens and enabling people to take control of supplying their own safe drinking water. A mobile (bottle or stirrer) and a spigot integrated into water dispensers can be powered by battery, solar panel or grid.
|
|
Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 January 2012 00:30 |
|
Read more...
|
|
MinVayu - small wind for the underserved |
|
|
|
|
 MinVayu's is working on a way to get small scale wind affordably into the hands of rural poor through developing a distribution network of mechanics.
Natural Innovation has been mentoring MinVayu to work out its business model, and prepare to raise money, and is finding pro-bono engineering support for their development program.
|
|
Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 December 2011 20:23 |
|
Read more...
|
|
 Over 2.5 billion people lack access to sanitation, more than twice the number lacking power or water. Wherever The Need is looking for commercially viable models for slum sanitation. Natural Innovation is exploring ways to help reduce the cost and increase the safety in their materials safety.
|
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 September 2011 12:35 |
|
Read more...
|
|
Urban Ecological Systems - integrated aquaculture & horticulture |
|
|
|
|
Urban Ecological Systems (Australia) have developed scalable, commercially viable integrated aquaculture/horticulture systems, which need scaling and adapting down to rural village scale.
Mitra helped UES to develop its business plan and raise finance including introducing them to their major investor. We also introduced them to Sunvention who are supplying an energy system for UES's 4,000 m2 farm under construction in Sydney.
|
|
Last Updated on Monday, 12 September 2011 17:26 |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Caktilika - Pay as You Go Inverters |
|
|
|
|
From the Tamil: Cakti – power; Alikka – deliver
Caktilika is developing an affordable, reliable, modular inverter. By allowing customers to pay for their power as they use it, it will reach new markets among the over a billion rural poor, who lack reliable power, but have insufficient savings for the up-front cost of renewables such as solar or wind.
|
|
Last Updated on Monday, 14 November 2011 17:33 |
|
Read more...
|
|
Natural Innovation has been looking at the tricky issue of licensing, when their are needs to be met, but very different business environments netween developing and western countries. We have been developing a standardised license to allow humanitarian licensing of technologies, from for-profits to non-profits and social ventures.
|
|
Last Updated on Monday, 12 September 2011 18:28 |
|
Read more...
|
|
Cleanstar vertically integrated bio-fuels |
|
|
|
|
Cleanstar Energy is developing a business model to grow the use of sustainable bio-fuels in India. They are combining oil-seed growth as a complement to existing farm activity, with waste oil processing into an economically viable vertically integrated business with benefits to rural farmers; urban waste management and energy sustainability.
Natural Innovation mentrored them through their business planning as part of Villgro's Pre Incubation Program as they prepared to raise finance. They are now raising money in the Indian market.
|
|
Last Updated on Monday, 12 September 2011 15:22 |
|
Sunvention - solar greenhouses, stirling engines & optics |
|
|
|
|
Sunvention,
is a Research & Development laboratory that has developed a range of technologies and expertise in overlapping fields of greenhouse solar capture; stirling engines; and optics for photovoltaics & daylighting etc. We are particularly excited by the potential of the SunPulse Water, a solar pump that is 3x as efficient as Photovoltaic pumps.
Natural Innovation helped Sunvention to document their technologies and focus their business and raised an emergency loan for them. This helped them raise substantial finance from a Swiss foundation. In addition, we mediated a relationship between Sunvention and Urban Ecological Systems, another of our incubatees. The first commercial installation of their Envelope Power Greenhouse will be installed at UES's new Sydney facility.
|
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 September 2011 14:32 |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
|
