![]() ![]() You can tell she’s on the right path to be a great innovator.įinally, Tauranga native turned shoe engineer Wade Flannigan took the stage. She got a lot out of YIA, which was great to hear, and solidified her decision to pursue engineering at university. She walked us through her development and internships that helped her with user research and product development. We then had a quick introduction to Swift Wrap, a prototype burn wrap dispenser created by this year’s YIA senior winner, and fellow inspiring female, Lydia Gilmour. Her message to commit tightly (to finish the project) and lightly (to allow for failure) really hit home. User research allowed the team to dig deep and uncover the real issues behind standard tests and eye health awareness, and helped them generate insights to develop a product that would engage the whole family. The idea started talking about elderly care as well as moms and kids, and the team went through a lot of stress and challenges before they got there. Funnily enough, though, this wasn’t even the original brief - a refreshing anecdote after she shared the beautifully executed outcome. ![]() The final product not only helped raise awareness and value of eye health but allowed parents to do the tests in their own home and move through the story even if a test was failed. Following her formula of creativity hard work fun = innovation, she shared her story developing an at-home eye test for kids in the form of a story book about pirates. By combining space technology with artificial intelligence, her company is challenging the status quo of humanitarian disaster relief.īack on Earth, we heard from Catherine Harris, Managing Director for self-defined ‘disruption company’ TBWA\Auckland. ![]() Today, Sinead is CEO of her own start-up, Fusion Space Technologies, where she leads a team of engineers to integrate data from satellites and drones. Especially in an environment as sensitive as deep space and asteroid landings, harm to one person can blow a whole mission. She had some great designer’s advice as well, highlighting the importance of empathy and doing your user research. Her advice to fellow space dreamers is to just go for it! Feed your curiosity, because when you do something you have passion for you’ll have fun every day. Her golden moments include being in Mission Control during the 8-minute drop of the Mars Rover, a stint in the US Aerospace design lab doing ‘design-thinking on steroids, and working with a team on asteroid mining and diversion - talk about thinking big! Indeed her career would be the envy of many kids (and at least one 30-something graphic designer). Even though her parents wanted her to be an accountant, she stuck to what she had a passion for - “cool space stuff”. ![]() In fact, she was the first from Northern Ireland to attend NASA‘s space school. Here’s the detail:įirst up was Sinead O’Sullivan, aerospace engineer, Northern Ireland raised and a Space Camp kid. My hopes were far surpassed - not only was I inspired by these women, I think they completely stole the show. So, having two of the three speakers in the line-up being intelligent, clever women gave me a bit of pride, but also hope that this could be the best YIA Forum yet - I’ve attended all but one in the last four years and haven’t been disappointed, even though the lineup has been historically dominated by men. But there’s no reason for ladies to not be part of the innovation conversation (and indeed, women’s innovator/start-up struggle is far from over). To me, at least before I joined Locus Research, the term ‘Innovator’ would spark thoughts of engineer/inventors or images of business suits - both which tend to be dominated by men, Pantsuit Nation aside. ![]()
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