The invention, awarded during the Polish E-nnovate 2020 event, makes it more accessible to communicate an emergency without the direct use of a smartphone
A simple device can save lives. Emergency communications are almost exclusively via smartphone, but in special cases it may be difficult to access your mobile phone to make the call. A solution to the problem was proposed by Prathameshwarar Kathirvel and Kishen Madev Yoganathan, two inventors from Malaysia. Their “Portable Security Module” connects to the mobile phone and automatically manages it remotely, making it easier to send an emergency message than a mobile phone. We interviewed Prathameshwarar Jayacheetra to tell us the story of the birth of his idea.
Can you explain how the birth of your invention? How did you get the idea?
“When it was decided i wanted to join the E-nnovate Fair, i scoured the Internet for humanities top problems, this is when i came across The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization aiming to solve world problems, where safety and well-being was 4th. To me, this was surprising, but the more i thought about it, the more it made it sense. Most security matters were caused by smaller incidents, where people didn’t have ways to avoid it or call for help in the nick the of time. The more i dwelt on this, the more curious and intrigued i was. Why haven’t we solved these smaller, everyday problems? Easily because people tend to see the bigger picture, and miss the smaller details. So i had made my choice, i would improve and fix the smaller problems in life, security in this case, and make it so everyone can access it“.
How does your invention improve existing technologies?
“The good thing about my invention was the fact it was made from IoT devices. Meaning it can connect through the internet, hence working alongside other projects. And because its programmable, one could easily modify it. Its internet based, and a lot of materials are on the internet. For example Servers, Websites, Social Platforms, etc. My innovation will work alongside existing technologies, opening up new possibilities and therefore taking it to the next level”.
Has the idea already been patented or do you plan to patent it?
“The idea hasn’t been patented yet. The application was always there, but it wasn’t used in this format. In this case, webhooks and making calls using IoT devices did already exist, but none that focused on using it for security. I am planning to patent the idea as soon as i can, as to set the starting idea of this project”.
What will be the next step? How do you plan to implement your invention or its diffusion?
“The next step would be to improve the product, run it through a focus group and make sure it satisfies what people expect from it. This is where the price of it, the materials its made out, more application of the product will be determined. Next, the market. The main reason this product was made was to make sure everyone can get help when they need it, so this marketing step will be crucial as it will be where the people will access this invention of mine”.
