Kopernik

Each year designers come up with innovative products to make our lives easier. Sometimes these innovations cannot get to the people who really need them, often times this is because the people who need them do not have the funds to purchase them. Kopernik, a new donations website, tries to remedy this problem. Visitors are able to look at proposals from groups in need and chose which ones they want to donate towards. Once sufficient funds have been raised Kopernik transfers the cost of the product and necessary shipping to the company that invented the product. The company then ships the product to the group in need and that group reports back to Kopernik on how the technology is being used.

Some of the most interesting products currently on the site include: life straw, self-adjustable glasses and Q-drum. The life straw is a low cost water filtration system that purifies enough water for one person for a year. It prevents common diarrheal disease and can be carried around for easy access to safe water. The self-adjustable glasses allow users to turn wheels connected to syringes of silicon oil to adjust the prescription of the glasses. Once the glasses are properly adjusted the syringes are cut off and the user has a properly adjusted set of glasses. Q-drums take the burden of carrying water off the shoulders of women and children. The donut shaped drum can be pulled behind, allowing easier transportation of water from a reliable source.

Check out the site for more innovations.