Innovation

LifeStraw’s journey from an Invention to an Innovation began in 2006 when Vestergaard introduced it in the market. It quickly gained media attention. Time magazine called it the Best Invention of the Year (2005), also won the ‘INDEX: 2005’ International Design Award and the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas in 2008.

According to Joseph Schumpeter, change, particularly that resulting from new technology, offers a continuous supply of new information about different ways to use resources. He refers to Innovation as an outcome of recombining of resources and includes:

1. The introduction of a new good or a new quality to a good
2. New production method or a new way of producing a good – might have previously been used for another good
3. Opening of a new market
4. New source of supply
5. New form of organisation

LifeStraw is a product of engineering and it offers new value to its users, which was not available before. It is a new technological product that creates change in the society by making drinking water accessible to all.

The price of the LifeStraw is high and this normally prevents inventions from reaching their target audience. LifeStraw however uses an innovative business model to address this barrier.

The commercialisation of life straw was achieved by marketing it to organizations like Water Aid, World Bank and Unicef, to distribute to developing countries with water crisis. The price of LifeStraw is high for users in disaster affected or underprivileged areas and hence charitable organizations and NGO’s become the route by which the product reaches its end user. In this case, the end user is not the purchaser.

LifeStraw’s success can be attributed to:

• Rich understanding of Needs: Need for a solution that allows users to drink clean water in the simplest possible way- by dipping into a reservoir/ water source.
• Product Design: The design is simple and easy to use. It is ergonomically designed.
• Product Performance: LifeStraw performs in the most adverse conditions and delivers on the promised benefit.
• Dual Positioning: There are clearly two different types of target groups: the hikers and those in water scarce areas. This dual positioning gives LifeStraw, a unique advantage and additional revenue stream.
• Incremental innovation: Vestergaard has developed a family of products around the filtering technology, which address specific needs of their user groups.
• Marketing: LifeStraw is marketed to charities and developmental organisations