As always, the Managing Product Development (MPD) course was an exciting opportunity to learn the cycle of building a product from scratch: starting with identifying problems, followed by ideating solutions and finally building a first MVP.
Last semester, the projects focused on innovative and socially impactful topics in the female health space, ESG compliance, battery recycling, and transportation for kids. And while those may have little in common, all of the teams showcased their creativity and passion and demonstrated the potential of products that aid in addressing important societal issues. In this post, we’ll take a quick look at the ideas presented.
Fempower
Fempower empowers women to solve their female health-related issues by connecting women to each other, offering tips and product recommendations, and providing scientific information.
As a team of 4 CDTM students, we set off on our 12-week MPD journey. We undertook our project with Annika Breu, founder of Oh My! Fantasy and a CDTM alumna. The challenge? To empower women on their sexual health journey. Through user interviews and desk research, we discovered a significant problem space – women have questions & sexual wellness issues (among many other figures, 75% of women have experienced painful sex), and many young women have difficulty accessing holistic information about their wellness.
Our solution, called Fempower, brings together women by providing an online community through which women can discuss their health and wellness. Combining automated tagging, semantic search, and a smooth UX, Fempower allows women to safely seek information, free of the shame that can accompany such queries. In conjunction with the forum-style community, Fempower offers affiliate links to recommended products, empowering women to take action. Our project aims to address the stigma, shame, and unclear information women face when considering their health and wellness – to us, knowledge is Fempower.
Collecto
Simplifying battery recycling and disposing of lithium-ion batteries in 5 mins.
Have you ever thought about how micro-mobility companies dispose of and recycle their batteries from scooters? For these companies, battery recycling can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Not only do operations teams lack the knowledge needed, but the industry itself is often not transparent. Together with project partner tozero, team Collecto is tackling the problem.
With over 100 target customer outreaches, Collecto aims to build a cloud-based platform that connects micro-mobility battery owners, logistics companies, and recyclers. Matching, ordering, and tracking can be done within one click and provide transparent analytics that can be used for ESG reporting.
After four months of ideation and prototyping, Collecto now has an MVP with two features: an ordering form and an order tracking system. After an in-depth business analysis, Collecto is confident that it will become the first end-to-end battery recycling solution provider in Europe and expects to generate over 300M in revenue after scaling up. To achieve this, Collecto will expand its customer base to other industries and complete the necessary technical infrastructure.
During our MPD project, we had not only the chance to learn about future trends in battery technology but also to talk to different stakeholders and experts in the battery industry, attend conferences and had fun nights with our project partner.
LiLi
LiLi is revolutionizing the way parents think about transportation for their children.
Parents’ top priority is ensuring the safety of their children. This includes making sure they get to school and other activities on time and in a secure manner. That’s where LiLi comes in – the transportation app for kids that lets them book rides to school and leisure activities by themselves, while giving parents the peace of mind that their child’s location and activity can be monitored from their app.
LiLi is a transportation solution designed specifically for kids. The app connects parents and drivers who have been thoroughly vetted and trained to ensure a safe and reliable transportation experience. With LiLi, parents can say goodbye to the stress of arranging rides for their children and hello to a convenient and efficient solution.
Safety First. Safety is the top priority at LiLi. All drivers undergo a thorough screening process, including background checks, driving history reviews, and personal interviews. Drivers also receive specialized training in child safety, including how to handle emergency situations. In addition, LiLi provides a unique security feature that allows parents to monitor their child’s trip in real time, including their location, pick-up, and drop-off times.
Reliability and Convenience. With LiLi, parents can schedule rides for their children in advance or on-demand, making it easy to fit transportation into busy schedules. The app’s scheduling feature allows parents to plan ahead and book rides for the week, ensuring their child arrives at school and other activities on time.
Time Efficiency. Time is precious, and LiLi understands that parents need an efficient transportation solution. With LiLi, parents can avoid the time-consuming process of coordinating transportation for their children. Instead, they can focus on other priorities while LiLi takes care of the rest. The app’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for children to book rides on their own, giving them a sense of independence and responsibility.
Konvolut
Making businesses a sustainable endeavor, one SME at a time.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is a set of standards for how a company operates in regard to the planet and its people. ESG assessment and reporting have been gaining in relevance, as both consumers and investors become increasingly aware of the social and environmental impact of certain industries. Just ask yourself, when was the last time you decided to go for the CO2-neutral product instead? Or bought a “conscious”-labeled piece of clothing? See?
This trend towards sustainability is becoming all the more important with the upcoming European Supply Chain Act and the CSRD. These regulations will impact companies as small as 500 employees. Many such SMEs find themselves overwhelmed and completely lost, trying to navigate the ESG management topic and proceed with the required due diligence. They face pressure not only from regulators but also from their customers and investors. Yet, they neither have processes in place nor the relevant skills to comply and improve their ESG performance in a timely fashion.
What do SMEs need now more than ever? Konvolut, the most automated and holistic tool for ESG Management on the market, completely tailored to SMEs’ needs and concerns. From data collection to risk analysis, ESG rating assistance and compliance report generation, Konvolut knows no limits in supporting SMEs to understand the status quo of their ESG performance and make the necessary improvements through concrete action plans where needed. Together with Konvolut, SMEs will become sustainability leaders.
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