Winners of LaunchBox new product contest announced
Dezeen promotion: a surfboard for the city, smart boxing gloves and "the world's first" open-source greenhouse are among the winners of the LaunchBox new product contest.
Cut&Paste, Intel and HP created LaunchBox as an online competition that showcases new product designs from across Europe, rewarding the best projects with cash contributions towards their crowdfunding campaigns.
A total of €17,500 (£14,000) in prizes was given to four winners, including a people's choice award that was decided by an online public vote.
Recipients of the three remaining awards were chosen by a jury of industry professionals including Maxwell Bogue, co-founder of 3Doodler 3D pen, and Evan Clabots, senior vice president of design at Fab.com.
"Since platforms like Kickstarter began there's been a degree of misconception that you just throw an idea up there and the money rolls in," said Bogue. "On the contrary, we planned our campaign for over three months."
"What LaunchBox allows is the chance to showcase a product before you take the next step," added 3Doodler co-founder Daniel Cowen.
"Depending on your state of readiness, it can provide a valuable opportunity to adapt the idea itself, take on comments, and secure an early audience of supporters. It gives project creators the knowhow and funds to take their full-scale campaign that little bit further."
The people's choice prize of €2,500 (£2,000) went to Csaba Tölgyesy's DESKA Board CitySurf, a three-wheeled "surfboard" made from aluminium and carbon. Named DESKA, it can connect a windsurf sail, with foot straps that allow a user to perform jumps.
Two finalist awards of €2,500 were given to 3Moods convertible furniture and iPunch smart combat gloves that come with built-in sensors and an accompanying mobile app.
The €10,000 (£8,000) grand prize winner of the LaunchBox showcase was MEG (Micro Experiment Growing), a social and open-source greenhouse that allows the users to share or data about their plants with an online community.
"It's a well-engineered example of open-source practical bio-hacking. Anyone in any climate at any time of year can use it to experiment with gardening," said Cut&Paste founder John Fiorelli. "We're really excited to see this project take off."
See more projects submitted to the LaunchBox new product competition »
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