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Today I'll be talking about development, creativity and innovation in general. If we
want to be creative, inventive and have our own product; what are the steps to follow
to produce my own product, and how to think about the product in first place before producing
it, how to promote it and etc.
I am going to talk about my own enterprise, called "touch sticker" I guess many people
already know about it; its basically a sticker that's attached on the bottom of any surface
to make it "touch" from above, the idea is simply if you get this sticker and stuck
it under wood or glass or ceramic or even under clothes, it transforms its surface to
"touch" as in if you touched it from the opposite side it will feel you. However this
differs from touch-screens, in touch screens you must directly touch the screen to feel
you, but this sticker you just attached under any surface it will convert it to "touch"
from the above.
This project has many applications. I took part in a competition called "Science Stars"
with 7000 competitors; I introduced my project in this competition.
The idea of this competition was to provide the participants with all the equipment, teamwork
related to that field of your idea so that you could release your idea into a product
then promote and even market this procut, when you are totally out of potentials and
equipment; and didn't even study that aspect of field that you have an idea in. So this
is a quick example related to how to think about your product.
I entered the competition with my project "touch sticker" and actually I found out
Im enrolling for this competition only 3 hours ahead; so you can imagine how quickly I had
to do my project as a prototype. The prototype I did was this "a touch menu" I got a
paper and I attached the sticker behind it and created a software, so that you touch
the picture of the dish and then wirelessly it sends your order without waiting for the
waiter to come at all, you could control how spicy you want it, vote for the dish after
your done; all of that through the paper. This is the prototype that I participated
with in the competition. After that , the first thing you need to do with any project
idea , is something called "Proof Of Concept" proving your idea, so this was the first stage
they asked me to proof my concept, they asked me to transform a piece of wood to touch,
stick my sticker and make the wood touch from above and touch at certain points that will
appear on the computer where exactly I touched. At the same time I had to do another application
using the same thing with ceramic and glass. There are two types of this sticker. A transparent
and
So they asked me to demonstrate that my sticker works on glass and on ceramic and that its
water-proof too. After the Proof of Concept stage, at the end of the stage I had to show
how the sticker works. The production of sticker is not handmade, you need to create a machine
that produces the sticker, so we had to in a period of 3 weeks, which is the competition
period, create this machine that produces the sticker, you can't make it manually
as its transparent and involves electronics. The matter is a bit technical, but the point
is we proved the idea, AlhamduliAllah at this stage I got the first place. After you proved
your idea and that it works perfectly, you are qualified to enter the next stage, which
is called "Engineering Stage" which is basically transforming your idea into an application
manner, you must discover an appropriate application for your project. In the competition they
ask you for the application, but just to show you the way, they asked me to stick the sticker
inside the clothes and to have wireless control over anything around me and at the same time
the clothes can be washed without needing to remove the sticker at all or connect it
to a cable to charge it. It must always be fully charged and that the clothes do not
get affected by water, and all of that in one week, creating the application in a week.
AlhamduliAllah I did it and gave it a trial. The second application they asked for in the
Engineering stage is to control tap water flow, by sticking the sticker on the wall,
it controls the flow and temperature of the water. So what is the purpose of the tap water
application?? As you know the difference between normal tap water and IR tap water, in IR tap
water you don't have to manually hold the water *** which might be disgusting in public
toilets, so they usually use IR tap water. The problem with IR there is no water temperature
control or water flow speed. Also if your hands falls below the IR level it closes.
So they asked me to touch at a point to open the water, and control the temperature. At
the same time as long as your hands are in contact with the water it feels you, when
you remove your hand it closes, but as long as your hands are touching the water at any
level even below the IR the water must keep flowing. Another problem with the IR is if
a dark skin person touches the IR the light does not reflect back so the water does not
flow. So I had to overcome all these problems using my sticker.
They asked me for another application, create a transparent telephone, by bringing a piece
of glass stick the sticker behind it and create a telephone, a piece of glass like this, where
I touch it at points to make a phone call, also in a week. AlhamduliaAllah I made these
applications. In the "Engineering Stage" it is not of importance the appearance. AlhamduliAllah
I also got first place. The next stage is "Design stage"
After doing the engineering of an idea and creating its applications, you must enter
the design stage. I can tell an engineer make for me this remote as a circuit. He will get
the remote and tell me I did the electrical circuit and then it turns out to be the size
of this table, obviously this cannot be carried, so engineering wise It works well however
it's not practical as a product, its appearance is poor, its size is large, its weight is
heavy and consumes a lot of power. It must be a remote in my hand but it engineering
wise its works well. That's why the design stage is extremely
important for any project. It is what transfers the engineering idea to a real product that
attracts customers to buy it. In design stage not only we improved appearance but we improved
the performance too. Adding of back light on the wall to aid people to reach for the
switches, how to make the wall transparent so that when we add the sticker behind the
wall the backlight shows. Here we made a new application to control the light through the
sticker. The idea of the sticker behind this wall has many advantages; if water splashes
on the wall it won't affect the sticker, so it's very safe. Also its hygienic does
not accumulate bacteria, easy to clean. Also it has a long lifetime as the only way to
get to the sticker is by breaking the wall. As a electrician I will place the sticker
behind the wall then the interior designer will create the design he wants for the switch,
I will not tell him the design I just show him where the switch should be placed, the
he chooses the paint and design for each switch. So the interior designer is the one who designs
the switch. These are the stages of implementation when
you think about any idea. After these stages, comes the "Business Stage" in which you
must make a business plan, how your idea will reach the market. What is your market target?
The price? Number of employees? How much will you invest? You must imagine the project value.
A lot of people didn't come across the business plan before. The business plan I assure you
can for example a glass cap you can see it as something very simple, but it can turn
out to be very profitable in the market, so the business plan shows the value of your
project in the market, you might imagine your project of no value, when it is very profitable
in the market. For example the HEINZ bottle cap, when you click on it and it makes a sound
that means it has been previously opened, so this is an invention. You cannot imagine
a bottle cap be profitable, but it is very successful through business planning, using
the bottle cap not only for ketchup bottles but many other products. So a simple plan
turns into an invention. Where inventions come from ? The sticker invention
goes back to a 4 years older project, a mouse that is in a shape of a ring, I had to do
the circuits of the mouse, then I discovered if you get any surface close to this ring
and touch the surface, it will feel. So if you get any surface and attached it on top
of the mouse clicks it will feel the touch. The difference between this mouse and a normal
mouse. In a normal mouse it must touch the surface while this mouse detects the surface
without being in direct contact, there are couple of versions mouse1 mouse2 , etc.
Where did this mouse idea come from? How to detect the surface remotely, this also came
from another project, this is a project I did in Japan in 2004, it's basically a software
that I created., it's impossible for you to hear a group of people talking 500meters
away even with the world largest mike, and if there is noise it's impossible to hear
them. The idea behind this device is that if there are two people talking 500 meters
away, the sound energy travels to all surroundings, not only the ear drum vibrates, this vibrates,
the floor vibrates and everything vibrates around me, also how do I see an object when
light reflects from it, so the theory states that the light reflected back from any object
carries my voice, so if both of them are talking next to a glass of water, the glass of water
acts like my spy, I get the device and detect the sound through the glass of water 500meters
away.
Because you can see the glass 500meters away but its impossible to hear from the same distance.
The device detects the light reflected from the glass and produces the sound of the two
people next to it.
So an idea evolved from an idea that itself is evolved from an idea. The sticker idea
came from the mouse idea the mouse idea came from the device idea and so on. A product
from a product and so on.
Therefore you must move to get ideas, create a device and try to get it to a final stage,
you will face problems, use the problems as ideas a problem in a product could be a solution
for another.
So don't lose hope, this product I didn't create but it helped me get the mouse idea
which helped me get the sticker idea.
Think before you act , how to think about ideas? What are the tips to create an idea?
Unfortunately we have many problems with the way we think of a project in general. For
example we think that to be a manufacturer I must have a product from scratch, totally
new. Which is wrong. We all know about the Japanese Scientist who to Germany to get a
degree in Motor Science, where he discovered that they don't provide him with all details
in Germany, so he purchased a Motor with his tuition fees, he detached the motor piece
by piece, then he reattached it, he was very happy it worked, that he quit his PhD and
went back to Japan and the Emperor asked to meet him to see how he did it, but he refused
to meet him till he perfectly gets the habit of it, 10 years later he went to the Emperor
with the best motor that was then used for cars,etc. The emperor didn't tell him I
was in germany and I saw the motor, there is nothing new about what you did. So you
shouldn't contempt any effort you do it could be repeated or small but it could also
evolve into an innovation. Don't contempt any information, while you're walking you
saw something here or there don't contempt any information.
There are plenty of idea and creations that you ask your self why I didn't think about
You don't need to be educated or a graduate from College of Engineering or a PhD holder,
if you think that you must get masters and PhD to do a product you will find yourself
dead before achieving anything
You must take advantage of your potentials to create a product, many of the inventors
complain of having a big problem I have no potentials to make a nuclear power, something
that will change the world,,,ofcourse you will not have the potentials for such a creation.
So you must always look at your potentials and capabilities to be able to move forward.
This is an idea of a simple product that is very successful in the market, many countries
drink from the tap water, when you hold this on the tap water it flows the water upward
so you can drink it. Another invention is this simple piece of plastic that doesn't
even require an invention ! it helps you read without the pages being flipped all the time.
Such a simple idea on which an entire company is based on.
This is another problem that we face every day when we arrive home at night and cant
find the key hole, this product you just put the key and slide it down to the key hole.
These are real products. This cup that has candles in them have two problems you either
light the candle then throw it in which will burn your hand or you put the match in which
will also burn your hand, so this invention was solved by making a gap in the cup to slide
the match without burning your hand, such a simple idea that solved a problem and turned
into a product.
The entire world population has keys, to put a key in a key chain it needs a huge effort
so an invention was made by just bending the chain from one side to open the other side
to easily put the key! Such a product made a fortune.
Another problem with Chinese sticks, could be easily solved, no need to be a graduate
from a prestigious university to have such simple ideas.
Another problem that families face, that a child cannot reach to the doorscope, so a
simple invention to place it at a lower level , solved this problem.
This is China, I've been to China a lot, when you get an idea and want to start producing
it, its not necessary to produce in the same country, most world's greatest companies
produce in China, so creation and innovation comes from here while production could be
anywhere. I advice everyone to visit China and see its production sites, even though
the production sites levels are much higher here, but the product that is produced there
is much higher, which is strange. So that depends on the person, with Business
and production in China there are no ethics or manners at all. Most importantly I produce
something with competitive price and good quality in
the market. Otherwise I will fail. So it's good to learn from them how they produce and then start making my
own product in my country. We need to be more open-minded.
So if anyone has some saved money for a course tuition use that money to buy a ticket to
China
and observe how people think and produce? How many people are required to produce the product. You can't imagine
the production politics in China. It's the worlds manufacturing company. They have many
tactics that we need to learn. So this is my advice. I am currently producing my own
product in China and
also in Egypt and hopefully it goes well.