“How soon can you deliver 3,000 units?” The question is not being asked by just anyone. Hillary, Chelsea and Bill Clinton’s charity foundation, Clinton Foundation, had heard about Adam Hartmann and Emil Bunk’s invention—a temperature gauge that can be used to monitor vaccines in the world’s poorest countries. Here, power cuts are a frequent occurrence. The temperature gauge alerts staff so they can turn on an emergency generator, to ensure that the vaccines are not destroyed from overheating. In early summer the famous foundation contacted the two DTU students to gain access to their invention.
“It was quite a shock to hear from them—no less. It just goes to show that you can develop a product with practical applications in the real world—and something incredibly valuable to boot,” says Emil Bork.
The two students spent time in Ethiopia testing their prototype under the severest conditions—where a great deal went wrong. The temperature gauge worked, however, and the two entrepreneurs are now busy setting up a business.
Making a mark
It is not financial gain but the desire to create something from scratch and leave a mark that appeals to Design & Innovation students, Adam Hartmann and Emil Bunk.
“Without a doubt what drives us is the desire to create something that others can use and in some way leave our mark. Of course, the fact that it has a humanitarian goal is a big plus,” explains Adam Hartmann. Fear of failure is far from the minds of the two students. As Emil Bunk says: “If it goes wrong at least we’ve tried and hopefully set something in motion somewhere else.”