The Gadget Show Live 2016
by Ethar Alali
As you read this, I am blogging form the cafe of the Gadget Show Live 2016. This busy annual event showcases a host of hot consumer tech inventions and products. This year, they also had a section for the British Invention Project, showcasing some of the best and brightest UK inventions. Within it, a little known Kickstarter project called the eFOLDi was making an appearance.
eFOLDi is the brainchild of Sumi Wang, a British inventor who created a bag-cum-seat-cum-electric vehicle. Sumi and her father engineered the vehicle to help her father cope after an accident. The product was so good, they decided to produce it as a commercial enterprise and the eFOLDi was born.
I caught up with Sumi during the third day of the show, where she was on her stand with her husband and son demonstrating the eFOLDi. A real family affair.
The eFOLDi garnered a lot of interest. So much so it was difficult to get time to talk to Sumi. Many people asked if they could buy it now, which was encouraging for Sumi, who has worked on the product for several years. That interest certainly proved the market is there. Indeed, the eFOLDi has managed to win first place in the British Invention Project at the show, as seen in the first picture above. This adds to her tally of awards the eFOLDi holds already.
Sumi and eFOLDi have just launched a Kickstarter project to crowdfund the capital to mass produce eFOLDi. It aims to raise £90,000 by May to fund the manufacture and distribution of the product. We wish them the best of luck! :)
Other Notables
Transportation — Arguably the epitome of gadgetry, the electric car manufacturer Tesla cordoned off a large corner of the exhibition space to showcase the model S and also take pre-booked passengers for a demonstration test drive, which included a demo of the self-parking facility. I found a small corner away from other stands and as far from the speakers as I could get and the Tesla was silent! Absolutely no noise whatsoever. Truly it was a joy. With two boots, one in the back and on in the front — that’s luggage compartments, not walking boots — the Tesla had plenty of room for all you want to carry. Up close, the wheels are physically huge! The new model S has a very sleek look.
Virtual Reality— As well as the transportation theme shared by folding bikes, drones, segways, cars (including the young drivers in SMART cars and go karts) and the eFOLDi, another major theme was VR, with many big VR providers showcasing their work in places and NVidea holding prime position at the entrance to hall 2 with their 3D space, used to track participants as they moved around its grid.
As well as the high tech solutions, a number of low tech, Google Cardboard products were showcased, including BizTechVR’s branded marketing options, featured in the photo.
Smart Home — Various smarthome providers were selling their wares, including a British soon-to-be crowdfunded organisation called ding, who have developed a smart doorbell-cum-intercom and app.
There were, of course, a number of classic incumbents from the areas of home security, such as ATD and Yale who made an appearance with Apps, but both those providers felt a little like a bolt on to their existing offering as opposed to anything new.
Summary
On the whole, it was useful to visit the Gadget Show. We don’t attend as many consumer expos as enterprise or commercial, so it made a change. It was apparently not as busy as previous years, though despite that, it was useful to see what the latest approaches to consumer tech were, the flavors of the month, check out the latest in big player VR, get up close to Tesla and crucially, to speak to novel British engineers such as Sumi with the eFOLDi.
Other Pictures from the Event
Ethar Alali is CxO and Chief EA at Axelisys, strategic IT, lean enterprise & agile specialist advisors to blue-chips and SMEs. Formed in 2011, Axelisys helps some of the biggest household names in the UK and across the world become leaner and more agile. He can be contacted at ethar[at] axelisys.co.uk.
