Austin group creates the first package-free, locally-grown grocery store in the U.S.
As you mentioned, a lot of supermarkets have bulk food sales — Whole Foods, another Austin-grown store, comes to mind. How is what in.gredients is doing different?
Well, I think a lot of grocery store or natural food stores had kind of started the way we are, but in their goals of finding organic products and other types of stuff, they started shipping stuff from, like, everywhere. And that’s great, but we’re kind of a greenfield-type situation, where we’re making a pretty strong commitment to limiting packaging and buying as local as possible, and we’re not invested in this whole wide array of products that you’re going to find in larger grocery stores. We’re trying to focus on a subset of all those things and keeping that at the core of what we offer…
Christian Lane, Grocer of the Future
Why oh why hasn’t this happened sooner?
Introducing, a forward-thinking condom wrapper that you can open with one hand. Here’s the info.
Part of the project ‘Preserving Human Dignity’ by Ben Pawle. A one handed condom wrapper designed to be easily opened, boosting feelings of confidence, allowing the individual to perform and sustain a mood without the awkward distraction of a difficult wrapper. The project evolved from a healthcare project concerning Hemiplegia, a stroke of the womb with debilitating mental and physical effects, with particular focus on how indignity manifests itself when performing simple daily tasks; working to reduce or prevent these moments from occurring by providing an inclusively designed intervention.
The project was selected to be exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum for the London Design Festival in September 2012. For more information about the full project, please visit: benpawle.co.uk
Nice job, Ben. We can’t imagine this type of packaging won’t be picked up by Trojan in the near future.
Cycling company creates brilliantly designed, high-end, foldable bicycle.
Foldable bikes have been around for a while and are gaining popularity in space constrained countries like England and Japan. What is Tern doing differently to disrupt this category?
Well, I think we’re not really here to disrupt the category and I think we’re not even really aiming at the folding bike category. The space that we’re looking at is people using bicycles for transportation.
In the US, a lot of the market has been recreational. It’s either mountain bikes or road bikes or bikes for kids to ride on weekends, and a lot less “Day in, day out, I’m riding to work.” So I think what we’re really focusing on is how do you make a bike that’s going to be suitable for riding day in, day out to get your errands done, to go to the supermarket — these things…
Joshua Hon, Pro Folder
Freelance NYC publicist makes a splash in the lit scene, throws epic parties.
When you first moved to New York, how did you meet people and make your connections?
Well, when I first graduated, I moved back to Maryland and I moved back with my dad in the suburbs. I had no friends. I would drink a bottle of wine and talk to my dog.
That’s too funny.
One night I was watching Bridget Jones’s Diary, and I was like, “This woman is such an idiot. If she can have friends, I can have friends.” And she has this horrible dinner party that she just botches. And I was just like, “I’m going to have a party and it’s going to be the best party.”
So I made a list of everyone I wanted to be friends with — most of whom I had never even met. I hired my sister and her friends to serve drinks and food. And I spent an entire week’s wages on Calla lilies flown in from South America. It was amazing. And after that I had a million friends and I got invited everywhere.
Lauren Cerand, First-Class Publicist
MIT researchers harness energy from microbes, predict the future of fuel.
What would you like people to take out of your research, and this interview?
More awareness that there are alternative methods that we can employ to achieve a common goal. Everyone wants to drive their cars. There are many ways we can become independent in terms of fuel and save money at the same time. One of the main things I want to get across is that this is all happening as a result of academic research. People need to realize the importance of academic scientific research and the amazing things that can come out of it. Understanding this goes a long way to the next innovators. The academics of today are the innovators of tomorrow.
Jignan Lu & Chris Brigham, Fueled-Up Scientists
Stanford researcher creates driverless racecar, aims for safer roads.
You have both a PhD in mechanical engineering and a passion for racing, so it seems like you’ve ended up in the right place. How did you come to do what you’re doing now?
In my undergraduate engineering classes at UPenn, I was fascinated by dynamics and control — the idea that you could describe how something moves mathematically and then calculate how to make it move differently. Wanting to learn more, I got a teaching fellowship to stay for my Masters and discovered in the process that I loved teaching even more than dynamics. I applied to PhD programs and got a call one evening from Prof. Karl Hedrick at Berkeley, who said he was looking for a “kick the tires sort of guy” for a project on automated highways. Head to California and get a PhD working with cars? Perfect.
Chris Gerdes, Autonomous Leader
![Woman takes matters into her own hands when she can’t find wheelchair-accessible auto options, starts business.
Now I have to ask: did you have any interest in the auto industry prior to doing this?
Not at all! [laughs] I had done many things before getting involved with Community Cars: I even wrote a memoir called “I Like to Run Too” when I was twenty, which took me six years to get published and talks about my disability. With the Kenguru, I just saw an opportunity to solve a problem that had been limiting me — and millions of other people — in my professional and social life…
Stacy Zoern, Entrepreneur With Drive
Read the Interview »](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma09d8SmYr1r01wo1o1_500.jpg)
Woman takes matters into her own hands when she can’t find wheelchair-accessible auto options, starts business.
Now I have to ask: did you have any interest in the auto industry prior to doing this?
Not at all! [laughs] I had done many things before getting involved with Community Cars: I even wrote a memoir called “I Like to Run Too” when I was twenty, which took me six years to get published and talks about my disability. With the Kenguru, I just saw an opportunity to solve a problem that had been limiting me — and millions of other people — in my professional and social life…
Stacy Zoern, Entrepreneur With Drive
Japanese researcher makes (electric) waves in the electric car industry.
Is there something about your work that really makes you excited? Perhaps contributing to the progression of technology, or the promise of positive environmental impact?
Yes, there is. More than 200,000,000 tons of CO2 are currently expelled a year from vehicles only in Japan, for instance. We have a dream to replace all the gasoline engines with EVs, and save our planet from an irreparable crisis.
Takashi Ohira, Electric Champion
Founder of Getaround aims to positively impact one billion people, also loves the Beach Boys.
It seems like companies like Getaround (and now Getaway) or Airbnb are generating paradigm shifts in society. In addition to convenience, is there a vision and a philosophy that is associated with your company?
Absolutely. Getaround’s mission is to empower people everywhere to car share — ultimately reducing the number of cars on the planet.
We’re excited about the recent rise of the Sharing Economy — people are clearly starting to think differently about the things they own and how to effectively access the goods and services around them…
Jessica Scorpio, Car Sharing Specialist
Welcome to Daily BR!NK’s special Auto Innovation Week, in partnership with Nissan.
All of you should check out Nissan Innovation Garage immediately. They’ll be giving a $50,000 grant to the person with the most innovative idea to make it a reality. (They’ll also throw in a new Altima to sweeten the deal.) All you have to do is send them your idea.
In the meantime, Daily BR!NK will be bringing you five interviews with the most upcoming, influential innovators in today’s auto industry. Nissan supports innovators everywhere, and — as you know — so does Daily BR!NK. It’s a match made in heaven. Enjoy the week.
— The Editors
