Analogue Innovation

Peruvian cement brand Sol Cement showed how innovation can come from surprising places. The idea developed tactile paving to help visually impaired people navigate the streets, adding numbered lines to pavements to label local businesses and services. “It felt like the solution was always there, but finally, someone unveiled it,” said José Rivera y Piérola, CEO and Creative Chairman, Circus Grey, Lima, part of the team behind it.

Buckaroo Footware developed DIY flip flop kits for people with clubfoot. It distributes the kit through India’s network of street cobblers and plans to scale across the country. At US$2.40 a pair, more than 228,000 flip flops have reached customers while giving cobblers a new revenue stream. The lesson? Accessible design can be cost-effective.

‘Three Words’ from insurance company AXA removed the financial barrier that prevents women escaping violent homes. The company added the clause “and domestic violence” to its home insurance policies, offering victims emergency relocation. Innovation Lions Juror Jodi Samuels Ike, Global Innovation and Marketing Executive, shared a lesson from the piece: “Think about the simplest thing that you can do that will be the most impactful for the consumer.”

More than 3.7 million people in Colombia lack access to clean water. Filsa’s solution? A universal bottle cap that filters and mineralises water. More than 10,000 people in Colombia, Argentina and Brazil have used the cap, demonstrating how lo-fi solutions can often be more suited to the accessibility needs of a specific group.