Innovative ice breakers to fill a market gap

A great news item from The Guardian here - students at Newcastle University have used personal observation and knowledge of the market to identify a business opportunity, and their expertise as PhD students to develop the product that the market needs. First they spotted the gap in the market - how to help shy people, spending a lonely evening in a bar, to chat up someone they like the look of. Then they put their minds to the task of finding a technological solution, and came up with smart beermats, which sense the presence of desirable nearby customers and project a selection of light messages – like a news ticker or teleprompter – across tables or bars.

The messages range from “Make mine a pint” to “Is your dad a thief? Because he stole the stars and put them in your eyes.” At present you cannot choose which message to send - they appear from a random sequence, which I cannot help feeling might limit their usefulness a little - however, the plan is to develop them further so that they can deliver ‘bespoke messages’ in future, which may be a good thing! The students say that the focus of their work is “to use technology to encourage interaction and relationships. We want these very public text messages to break the ice and make people laugh.”

The prototypes will be revealed at the university’s Culture Lab Jam 45 showcasing of student ideas. This feels like an idea that should be next seen on Dragons’ Den…..